Romania Opposition Files No-confidence Motion in Govt

The opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD, on Thursday filed a motion of no-confidence against Romania's minority centre-right government, which took power last November following a successful no-confidence vote against the former PSD cabinet.

Parliament is expected to decide on the date of the vote on Thursday. The motion, initiated by the PSD, will be supported by the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, which represents the country's large ethnic Hungarian minority.

Together, the two parties have 228 deputies, five short of the minimum of 233 votes needed to topple the government. They are seeking the support of other minority parties in the meantime.

The move is partly intended to stop the adoption of a new electoral law that would result in mayors being elected in two rounds instead of with the simple majority system used until now.

This change comes in the run-up to this year's municipal elections, which will take place in June at the latest. It will become law if the PSD fails to unseat the government through the no-confidence vote.

A two-round electoral system is widely seen as likely to benefit the ruling National Liberal Party, PNL, to the detriment of both the PSD and the UDMR.

A majority of the electorate have traditionally voted against PSD candidates in the presidential election runoffs, the only elections in Romania that use the two-round system now.

While the PSD is the only major centre-left party in Romania, the centre-right vote is usually dispersed between two or more forces that come together in support of a single candidate in the second round of the presidential election. As a result, no PSD candidate has won a presidential election since 2000.

Analysts believe that a two-round...