Oct. 5 (UPI) — The Romanian Parliament endorsed a vote of no confidence against the center-right coalition government of Prime Minister Florin Citu on Tuesday.
Lawmakers from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, the Save Romania Union and the Social Democratic Party, which is known as the PSD, voted 281 in favor of the motion, more than the required 231, bne IntelliNews reported.
The collapse of the government will leave the cabinet of Citu to continue in an interim basis with a reduced capacity, which could lead to early elections.
Citu called the parliamentary vote “absurd,” Politico reported.
“Kafka would be proud,” he said.
The vote of no confidence was held after the reformist USR-PLUS pulled out of Citu’s National Liberal Party coalition government last month over issues concerning public investments and accusations Citu was attempting to buy support from local governments, which prompted the PSD to file a motion of no confidence.
In a statement, the USR-PLUS said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis must pick the next prime minister from either its part or that of PSD.
“Too many many months, Romania was prisoner of the PNL congress,” it said. “As of today, the choice is simple, a government with USR-PLUS or PSD.”
“Citu has been dismissed for all the reforms that have been blocked in recent months, for the failure of the vaccination campaign, for the use of money and public functions to buy votes at the PNL congress,” it said.