President Nicusor Dan has again convened consultations with the leaders and representatives of the political parties and parliamentary groups to designate a candidate for the office of Prime Minister.

According to the Presidential Administration, the schedule for the consultations is as follows:

14:00 - Social Democratic Party (PSD);

14:30 - Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR);

15:00 - National Liberal Party (PNL);

15:30 - Save Romania Union (USR);

16:00 - Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR);

16:30 - Parliamentary Group of National Minorities;

17:00 - S.O.S. Romania Party (SOS);

17:30 - Young People's Party (POT);

18:00 - 'United for Romania' Parliamentary Group;

18:30 - PACE - 'Romania First' Parliamentary Group;

19:00 - Non-affiliated MPs.

The new consultations are taking place in the context in which Liberal Siegfried Muresan, the third prime minister-designate in the past five months, failed to secure Parliament's vote of investiture last week.

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According to article 85 of Romania's Constitution, 'the President of Romania shall designate a candidate to the office of Prime Minister and appoint the Government on the basis of the vote of confidence of Parliament.'

Article 103 of the Constitution stipulates that:

'(1) The President of Romania shall designate a candidate to the office of Prime Minister, as a result of his consultation with the party which has obtained absolute majority in Parliament, or -unless such majority exists - with the parties represented in Parliament.

(2) The candidate to the office of Prime Minister shall, within ten days of his designation, seek the vote of confidence of Parliament upon the programme and complete list of the Government.

(3) The programme and list of the Government shall be debated upon by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, in joint sitting. Parliament shall grant confidence to the Government by a majority vote of the Deputies and Senators.'

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On 5 May, less than one year after its investiture, the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, initially supported by the PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR and the parliamentary group representing national minorities, was dismissed through a censure motion. Earlier, the Social Democrats had left the governing coalition, having initiated the motion of no confidence, which passed in a joint sitting of Parliament with AUR's votes.

For five months, Romania's Government has been serving in an interim capacity.

During this period, there have been several attempts to form a new Executive.

One year after winning the presidential mandate (the second round of the presidential election - 18 May 2025), Nicusor Dan was forced to consult parliamentary parties again on 18 May 2026 over the appointment of a prime minister.

A few days later, on 4 June, the head of state designated MEP Eugen Tomac as candidate for prime minister.

However, on 14 June, ten days after being designated, Eugen Tomac withdrew his mandate, having been unable to form a government majority.

On the same day, Nicusor Dan designated Liberal Adrian Vestea as candidate for prime minister. He appeared before Parliament on 22 June for the investiture vote, but was rejected by the legislature, with 189 votes 'in favor' and 23 votes 'against' out of a total of 212 valid votes cast.

The following day, the head of state convened a new round of official consultations with the parliamentary political parties, but no candidate for prime minister was designated, with the option taking shape, as President Nicusor Dan said, being that of a minority government.

A new round of consultations took place only in mid-September. On 17 September, the head of state convened the representatives of parliamentary political parties in an attempt to unblock the political situation once again. That day, he designated Liberal Siegfried Muresan to form the Government, and he completed the constitutional procedure, however the governing programme he proposed and the list of ministers were again rejected by Parliament in a vote held on 30 September.

On that day, President Nicusor Dan, who was on an official visit to the Czech Republic, announced that he would convene new consultations to unblock the situation, mentioning that one thing is certain - at the end of this round of consultations, he would designate a new candidate for prime minister, ruling out the option of an early election, which is currently constitutionally possible. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Andreea Rotaru; EN - writing by: Rodica State)

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