February 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's minority centre-right government led by prime minister Ludovic Orban lost a no-confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday requested by opposition left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD), the results of the vote showed.
Of 373 MPs present, 261 supported the no-confidence motion submitted by PSD, according to the official outcome of the vote communicated by Lower Chamber secretary Lia Olguta Vasilescu. The vote was aired live by Romanian broadcasters.
Entitled "PNL/Orban government - the privatisation of Romanian democracy", the motion said that the government must be urgently dismissed for seeking to change election rules ahead of local elections due in 2020 without prior consultation or debate.
In order to pass, the motion needed to be backed by 233 MPs.
The no-confidence motion was supported by MPs from PSD, Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and by Pro Romania, the party of former prime minister Victor Ponta.
PSD holds 202 of 465 seats in parliament. National Liberal Party (PNL) led by Orban has 107 MPs, Union Save Romania (USR) holds 40 seats, Pro Romania - 21, UDMR - 30, Popular Movement Party (PMP) holds 14 seats and the Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) has 14 MPs. The remaining seats are taken by 17 MPs representing minorities, and by 20 independent MPs.
In January, Orban said that together with president Klaus Iohannis he will aim to trigger an early general election by the middle of this year. He did not specify how he will try to achieve this objective but recent opinion polls show support for PNL exceeds by far support for PSD.
Romania is expected to hold its next regular parliamentary elections in March 2021.
Now it's up to president Klaus Iohannis to nominate a new prime minister and government after he holds consultations with political parties, or call early elections. Until then, Orban's government, which was voted in office in early November, will carry on as a caretaker cabinet.
Some 47.4% of Romanians would vote for PNL, if parliamentary elections were held now, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Institute of Marketing, Analysis and Polling (IMAS) and commissioned by local radio station Europa FM that were released on Monday.
Some 20.6% would support PSD, while 12.4% would vote for the centre-right Union Save Romania (USR) party,
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