Romania faces early elections

Romania faces early elections

An election defeat for the minority government of Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu could end a political deadlock which is threatening progress on political reforms, particularly those combating corruption.

Basescu, who returned to power last week after a May 19 referendum aimed at bringing him down, said he wants the fragmented parliament to back his efforts aimed at creating an electoral system which would make politicians more accountable to voters.

But there is no certainty the Basescu’s initiative will succeed, and analysts are saying that the political crisis could deepen even further.

"The main political parties - Liberals, Social Democrats and Hungarian minority party or UDMR, have no interest in staging early elections as they could lose power. Most probably they will stay together until regular parliamentary elections in 2008," said political analyst Cristian Ghinea.

Feuding between Tariceanu and Basescu has left the government with only 20 per cent of support in parliament and forced the prime minister to rely on parliamentary backing of the Social-Democrats.

The Democratic Party of President Basescu threatened on Monday to launch a no-confidence vote against the government.