December 13 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the integrity criteria for local politicians remain valid in the process of appointing the new prime minister.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won Sunday's parliamentary elections on Sunday but fell short of outright majority. The integrity criteria make it impossible for its leader Liviu Dragnea to become Romania's prime-minster because he has a two-year suspended jail sentence for a referendum fraud in 2012.
"I announced the integrity criteria before the election campaign in order to avoid any arguments and suspicions. The criteria remain in place," Iohannis told a news conference broadcast by Digi 24 TV station.
The moral criteria announced by the president are backed by a 2001 law which says that a person sentenced on charges of a criminal offense cannot be part of the government. The law could be challenged at the country's Constitutional Court but no such moves have been made so far.
Under Romania's constitution, the president must name the prime minister from the political party, which has won the majority of seats in parliament after elections, or hold consultations in this respect with all parties in aprliament, if no such majority was created. Both the prime minister and his cabinet must be approved by the newly elected MPs in a vote of confidence. MPs can reject a proposed government up to three times before the president decides to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
According to almost final data from Romania's electoral commission (BEC), no party has won absolute majority, so the president said he is calling all six parties that entered parliament for consultations starting Wednesday.
PSD won 46.18% of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 45.77% of the votes for the Senate in Sunday's elections, partial results show.
Speaking shortly after the release of the first exit polls, Liviu Dragnea said that PSD would join forces in parliament with centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) led by Senate chairman and former premier Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.
Asked if he fears suspension in case he refuses to appoint Dragnea, president Iohannis only said that he fears no legitimate political action.
Under Romania's constitution, an incumbent president who severely violates the Constitution may be suspended by the Parliament in a joint session of its two houses. If the suspension motion passes, a referendum for the impeachment of the president shall be called within no more than 30 days after the suspension.
Right-wing PNL will be the second biggest party in parliament after winning 20.29% support for the Chamber of Deputies and 20.41% for the Senate, but the result was poor compared to expectations.
On Monday, PNL's leader Alina Gorghiu said she is resigning due to the heavy defeat. PNL suffered a massive blow to its image at the end of September when its co-leader Vasile Blaga was indicted on charges of influence peddling and had to resign to meet PNL's integrity criteria enforced at end-2015. However, following that moral cleansing, many members were forced to leave PNL, so the party found itself lacking popular figures at both local elections in June and general elections on Sunday.
Centre-right Save Romania Union (USR) party came in third with 8.87% of votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 8.82% for the Senate.
The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) won 6.35% of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 6.26% of the votes for the Senate.
ALDE won 5.7% of votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 6.5% of the votes for the Senate, which makes it the fifth biggest party in Romania's new parliament, according to BEC data based on 99% of the votes counted.
Centre-right Popular Movement Party (PMP) got 5.4% of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 5.6% for the Senate, respectively, while far-right United Romania Party (PRU) and nationalist party Our Alliance Romania (ANR) could not pass the 5% threshold to enter parliament.