PSD's Ciolacu: We will never vote for anyone else as Prime Minister besides Rafila

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) will not vote for any other government than the one led by its proposal for Prime Minister - Alexandru Rafila, this party's leader, Marcel Ciolacu, stated on Tuesday evening. He said that if PSD is not the first party invited to the Cotroceni Presidential Palace for consultations, as the winner of the parliamentary elections, it is possible that the Social Democrats refuse to come to the meeting with the head of state. "We must return to the spirit of the Constitution, to enter into the logic of the Constitution and its spirit. The first party to be invited to Cotroceni must be the Social Democratic Party," Ciolacu told a TVR (national television channel) broadcast. The leader of the Social Democrats underscored that the "period of insults" is over. "I may make a decision with my colleagues, if we are not invited first, as a winning party should be invited, to go with our proposal for Prime Minister, we may not go to these consultations at all. I think that the time of campaigns and insults has ended," the Social Democratic leader said, also adding that, in this context, PSD will use "all levers conferred by law and the Constitution." Asked if he had a dialogue with President Klaus Iohannis after the election, Marcel Ciolacu replied: "We did not have any institutional discussion." He ruled out a collaboration with the PNL (National Liberal Party). "From our point of view, we have nothing to look for in a collaboration with the National Liberal Party, because it would be an insult to the Romanians. They have just sanctioned them by vote," the PSD chair said. In this sense, Ciolacu maintained that the only executive option, for PSD, is one with Alexandru Rafila as Prime Minister. "For the Social Democratic Party and for me personally, there are two options. Both are with Prime Minister Alexandru Rafila. One is a PSD minority government and a national union government," he said. Marcel Ciolacu underscored that his party will not vote for any other government. "Democratically, we will never vote for a different government or person as Prime Minister other than Mr. Alexandru Rafila," the Social Democrat leader said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Andreea Rotaru, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)