Boc Government Faces No-Confidence Motion Today

The Romanian Parliament will convene today to vote on the no-confidence motion "11 Against Romania" filed by the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) to dismiss the Boc Government, which lost the majority in Parliament after the Social Democrats decided to leave the ruling coalition.

The last obstacle in the way of putting the no-confidence motion on the Parliament"s agenda was overcome yesterday, as the Constitutional Court of Romania denied a petition by the ruling Democrat Liberal Party (PD-L) to declare the motion unconstitutional.

The Democrat Liberal Party on 8 October filed a petition with the Constitutional Court claiming that the opposition had no right to initiate a new no-confidence motion, as long as a the Parliament had recently rejected another one. The Constitutional Court substantiated its ruling indicating that it was not its prerogative to verify the constitutionality of no-confidence motions.

• Gheorghe Flutur, PD-L: "We are optimistic and counting on the support of responsible MPs."

The opposition saluted the Constitutional Court"s ruling, especially considering that President Traian Basescu had had a brief conversation with Chief Justice Ioan Vida in the Parliament Palace yesterday morning. The brief encounter caused suspicion among the opposition, as President Basescu had not officially announced his visit to Parliament, whereas Chief Justice Vida seemed to be waiting for him in the hallway.

Democrat Liberal leaders explicitly denied last week"s rumour that PD-L ministers would resign altogether should the Constitutional Court not rule the planned no-confidence motion unconstitutional. They specifically said the subject had never been discussed.

Moreover, PD-L Vice President Gheorghe Flutur yesterday stated that the Democrat Liberals were optimistic about the outcome of the no-confidence motion as they were counting on the support of "responsible" opposition MPs.

"PD-L is optimistic and confident that the combined votes of our MPs and the responsible MPs of the other parties, I mean PNL, PSD and UDMR, will prevent the no-confidence motion from passing and thus prevent a political crisis," Flutur said.

• Political mathematics

Mathematically speaking, the combined votes of PSD, PNL and UDMR are sufficient to dismiss the Boc Government but, politically speaking the three opposition parties are worried that not all of their MPs may vote as directed.

If all the MPs of the three opposition parties vote in favour of the no-confidence motion, the total will be 278 votes, which is by 42 votes more than the minimum of 236 votes required to carry the motion. However, the votes of UDMR, the minorities and at least 12 MPs of PSD and PNL are sufficient to deny the no-confidence motion.

• Bribery suspicions: opposition parties worried about own MPs

MPs of the National Liberal Party (PNL) could be expelled from the party if they do not cast their vote openly or are not present when the voting takes place, PNL President Crin Antonescu announced.

"In our party, too, all the MPs that received offers of money, public offices or anything else (i.e. to vote against the motion) informed their group leaders immediately. We do not have any worries or suspicions," Social Democratic Party (PSD) Vice President Victor Ponta said.

PNL had earlier accused PD-L of having tried to buy the votes of some PNL MPs for an alleged 10,000 EUR per vote. Florin Turcanu MP (PNL), who is also the president of the Botosani County Branch of the party, claimed that persons connected to PD-L who were "being investigated for fiscal fraud" had offered him 10,000 EUR not to participate in the voting on the no-confidence motion. Turcanu commented that this was a sign of PD-L"s despair.

• Backup plan: PSD challenges the organisation chart of the Cabinet

According to the Constitution, if the Government is dismissed as a result of the no-confidence vote, President Traian Basescu will nominate a candidate for the office of Prime Minister following consultations with the parliamentary majority. The nominee then has ten days to ask Parliament for a vote of confidence in his programme and the full list of Cabinet members. If the no-confidence motion does not carry and the Boc Government stays in office, PSD has announced plans to contest the appointment of PD-L"s acting ministers in the Constitutional Court as PD-L did not obtain the Parliament"s validation for their nomination.