Sawt Falasteen - Romanian parliament rejects liberal PM-designate

Nominated by the president, Vestea needed 233 votes across both houses of parliament to form a government but only received 189, the official vote count indicated.

Some deputies left the chamber before the vote started, after a day of debate on Vestea's proposed cabinet line-up.

In early May Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan saw his government brought down in a no-confidence motion with support from the centre-left and far-right.

After the first new prime minister designate dropped out, Romanian President Nicusor Dan tapped Vestea, a 52-year-old fellow Liberal, on June 14 to form the next government.

Vestea's own party, led by Bolojan, had refused to back the prime minister-designate, threatening him with expulsion from the party.

Vestea is a former mayor and regional government leader who also served as national development minister.

He had previously said he would negotiate with "the pro-Western democratic political parties" in parliament in hopes of finding a governing majority.

In the lead-up to Monday's vote he also held talks with the AUR, the largest far-right party in the country, critical of the EU.

After his defeat he pointed the finger at the AUR, which holds 90 seats in parliament.

"I have a clear conscience. I did my duty," he told reporters.

"Forty-seven days without a government are costing us dearly in European funds, trust and time that we will not get back," he added in a Facebook post.

"I remain convinced that responsibility should take precedence over political calculations."

- Snap election prospect -

The no-confidence vote in May that brought down Bolojan's government came after the centre-left Social Democrats (PSD) -- Romania's largest political party -- quit the pro-EU coalition and joined with far-right parties in voting against the government.

Dan has repeatedly ruled out a government that would include the rising far right.

Dan was elected president in a rescheduled vote in May 2025 following the controversial annulment of presidential elections in December 2024 over allegations of Russian interference.

AUR said in a statement earlier this month when Vestea was named as prime minister designate that his nomination "only serves to exacerbate the current crisis" and called for early elections.

Bolojan's coalition government, which took power in June 2025, enacted unpopular austerity measures, including raising taxes, in order to tackle a budget deficit that had become the biggest in the European Union.

The president will now have to propose another prime minister, said analyst Remus Ioan, founder of polling group INSCOP Research.

"A second rejection will trigger the nuclear option of a snap election," he said on Facebook.

That would be "a catastrophe for the country, the economy, businesses and people's earnings", Ioan added.

"No party except the AUR would benefit from a snap election."

H.Nasr--SF-PST