Romania’s Main Opposition Party Sees Snap Vote as Best Option

(Bloomberg) -- The largest opposition party will seek to push for Romania’s first-ever snap elections if a planned no-confidence motion succeeds in ousting Premier Viorica Dancila’s minority government.

The Liberals will start negotiations with lawmakers next week to gain sufficient backing for the motion to topple Dancila’s cabinet after the ruling coalition broke up Monday, party leader Ludovic Orban said in a phone interview on Tuesday. Snap elections could take place as early as in January if the motion passes, he said.

The Liberals need to gather support from all opposition parties. So far only ALDE, which quit the ruling coalition, and another opposition party Save Romania Union, have indicated they would be on board. Orban wouldn’t say when the motion could be tabled.

“Our main objective now is to gather the signatures to oust the government,” he said. “Our first option in the case of the government’s collapse would be early elections.”

The weakened government comes at a tender time for Romania, which needs to approve next year’s budget that may breach the European Union’s deficit limit.

The 55-year-old Dancila took over the Social Democratic party in June, just a month after her predecessor Liviu Dragnea was jailed. She quickly sought to soothe ties with the EU by abandoning a controversial policy agenda similar to ones that landed Hungary and Poland in hot water with the bloc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net;Irina Vilcu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andras Gergely

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