Romanian president's suspension legal

Romanian president's suspension legal

In an earlier ruling, the court said there was no evidence to back the charges and dismissed the accusations. That ruling was a recommendation, however, and not legally-binding.

More than half of Romanians registered to vote would have to approve impeachment for it to pass, which would be virtually impossible, given Basescu's popularity and the usually low turnout in Romanian ballots.

Basescu has denied any wrongdoing, vowing to resign and run for a new term if suspended.

There was no word Friday whether he planned to resign immediately as he had indicated he would. Bucharest Mayor Adriean Videanu, a Basescu ally, revealed there was draft legislation being prepared by opponents to stop the president from running again, if he resigned.

After Parliament's vote on Thursday, thousands of Basescu supporters gathered in downtown Bucharest.

"The time has come for justice to be done in Romania," said Basescu, a former sea captain and populist mayor of Bucharest. "I am the captain of the long distance voyage and this voyage as president will be long."

The interim president is Nicolae Vacaroiu, 63, a former prime minister who now heads the Senate. He is a member of the opposition Social Democracy Party and was an official for state planning during communism.

Thursday's vote in the opposition-dominated Parliament was ostensibly about abuse of power allegations ranging from wiretapping ministers' phones to criticizing judges. But in the backdrop is a political feud between Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu. The left-wing opposition has seized on this tension to move against Basescu.

The squabble between the two men started last year when Tariceanu rejected Basescu's proposal to call early elections. Trying to score points with the public, Tariceanu then declared Romania should pull its troops out of Iraq and Basescu, a staunch U.S. ally, disagreed. The prime minister also hired foreign advisers to head a public relations campaign aimed at brushing up his staid image.

But so far, Basescu has been winning the battle of public opinion.

Although he is widely popular among Romanians, he has grown increasingly isolated among politicians who accused him of fomenting conflict among political groups. Even close advisers have been abandoning him, bridling at his unorthodox leadership style.

The personality clashes have contributed to government gridlock.

Last month, Tariceanu announced that relations between the two main parties in the ruling coalition had broken down, with the prime minister accusing Basescu's Democratic Party of making life impossible for Tariceanu's Liberal Party.

Romania did not have a foreign minister for weeks this year after Basescu blocked the appointment of Tariceanu's nominee for the job, saying he did not have enough experience. And there are no ambassadors in key capitals including Washington and London because of disagreement between Basescu and Tariceanu over candidates.

The feud reached a crisis-point in late March when the leftist opposition and Tariceanu supporters accused the president of 19 instances of constitutional abuse, including trying to usurp control of the Cabinet from the prime minister.

The European Union, which Romania joined Jan. 1, has also been looking on nervously because it expects Romania, which joined the bloc in January, to continue with reforms to eradicate corruption and raise its economy up to the standards of richer members in the West.