October 11 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis has called on all parliamentary political parties to come for consultations starting Friday, in order to form a new government after the Social Democrat cabinet led by Viorica Dancila lost a no-confidence vote.
"I will convene the parliamentary parties for the first round of consultations tomorrow, starting at 11:00, because we urgently need a new government," Iohannis said in a televised news conference on Thursday night .
"I will listen to the options of the parties and I will propose a solution for a cabinet with a very clear mandate, which will ensure responsible and effective governance until the next parliamentary elections, regardless of when they will take place."
All political parties have accepted the president's invitation, except for the former ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), local media reported.
Following consultations, the president will have to propose a new prime minister, who will then have to win a confidence vote in parliament. If the parliament refuses to endorse two of the president's nominations for prime minister, the head of state can dissolve parliament and call early elections.
Romania is scheduled to hold general elections in late 2020 or early 2021.
On Thursday, Dancila's government lost a no-confidence vote requested by opposition right-wing National Liberal Party (PNL).
Currently, PSD holds 206 of 465 seats in parliament. PNL has 94 MPs, USR holds 40, PMP has 12 MPs, UDMR holds 30 seats and Pro Romania has 39 seats. The remaining seats are filled by 17 MPs representing minorities, and by 27 independent MPs.
On August 26, the ruling coalition comprising PSD and ALDE collapsed as ALDE leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu announced that his party is leaving it. Tariceanu said at the time that he and his party have been waiting for Dancila to come up with "an articulated plan for relaunching the government", but as she failed to do so, they decided to leave the alliance.
(1 euro = 4.7498 lei)