Opposition Says Lower Chamber Leaders Were Dismissed During Controversial Meeting

Leading figures of opposition parties PNL, USR and PMP all state that the vote, despite not being acknowledged by the meeting’s chair, was legal according to a 2012 Constitutional Court decision regarding the dismissal of a parliamentary chamber chairman.

“The reality is that the PSD-ALDE majority does not exist anymore, period. Secondly, Liviu Dragnea is dismissed as Lower Chamber chairman. Florin Iordache is also dismissed as Lower Chamber deputy chairman,” said Raluca Turcan, leader of the Liberal Party’s MP group in the chamber.

Her statements were echoed by USR chairman Dan Barna, who also pointed out that the ruling PSD-ALDE coalition could not meet the quorum to start a final vote meetings, after opposition MPs left the plenary hall.

“Today’s result is perfectly legal. We’ve seen today that the political majority is no more, they were incapable of ensuring the quorum. Today, PSD-ALDE did not have the majority” said Barna.

“In this context, next week’s no-confidence motion becomes truly important,” he added.

PMP president Eugen Tomac also hailed Wednesday’s events as a victory for the opposition and stated that Liviu Dragnea and Florin Iordache “fled” from the opposition’s vote.

The vote in question called by the liberal deputy chairman of the chamber, Marilen Pirtea, and was held by raising hands. Meeting chair Florin Iordache did not acknowledge the vote and muted the liberal MPs microphone.

Wednesday’s Lower Chamber meeting was marked by controversy, as the ruling coalition and opposition MPs clashed for several hours over efforts by the latter to dismiss the chamber’s chairman, Liviu Dragnea, and deputy chairman Florin Iordache.

Liberal Party (PNL) group leader Raluca Turcan proposed a vote for the dismissal of both Dragnea and Iordache, stating that the ruling coalition had lost the majority in the chamber.

Her request was rejected by deputy chairman Florin Iordache, who presided the meeting, on the basis that chamber regulations state that such requests can only be filed by the chairman’s parliamentary group.

Opposition MPs argued however that a 2012 Constitutional Court decision makes a vote mandatory in cases where the political majority is uncertain.

 

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