President Nicuşor Dan Rejects the Idea of Holding Early Elections

When asked whether holding early elections is a solution to the political crisis, President Nicuşor Dan said: “I don’t think it’s a solution, especially since the percentages… the voting intentions in the polls are relatively close to the representation in Parliament. We’d just be wasting a few more months trying to bring the same people to the same table.”

According to the Constitution, early elections in Romania can only be held if two proposals from the Executive are rejected by Parliament within 60 days of one another, and the President of Romania requests that the two Chambers dissolve Parliament.

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Thus, the only situation provided for by the Constitution for holding early elections is the dissolution of Parliament. This can be done, according to Article 89 of the Constitution, only “after consultation with the presidents of the two chambers and the leaders of the parliamentary groups” by the President of Romania.

The President “may dissolve Parliament if it has not granted a vote of confidence for the formation of the Government within 60 days of the first request and only after the rejection of at least two requests for investiture.”

More specifically, early elections cannot be held, even after Parliament has rejected two government proposals, unless the President of Romania expressly requests it, following the fulfillment of constitutional conditions.

To reach such a situation, therefore, a consensus within Parliament is required to reject two “sacrificial” nominations.

On the other hand, the Constitution also stipulates that Parliament may be dissolved only once during the course of a year and may not be dissolved during the last six months of the Romanian President’s term, nor during a state of mobilization, war, siege, or emergency.

Defense Minister Radu Miruţă stated that his party is prepared for the scenario of early elections if the PSD withdraws its ministers from the government.

“We at the USR are prepared to go ahead with early elections,” Miruţă said.