WRAPUP: Parliament Suspends Romanian President

WRAPUP: Parliament Suspends Romanian President

For the first time since Romania stepped out of Communism in 1990, the president was suspended from office by the Parliament under charges of breaching the Constitution.

With an overwhelming majority(322 pros, 108 cons and 10 abstentions), MPs voted for suspending Basescu from office, yesterday.

MPs  from PNL(former Alliance partner with Basescu and PD), opposition parties PSD and PRM and Government pullout party PC voted to what their leaders decided, creating an anti-Presidential majority.

The last one to vote for President Basescu’s dismissal was the Senate Speaker, Nicolae Vacaroiu who, by Constitution stipulations, will become Romania’s interim President.

The Parliament’s voting went through although Constitution Court could not find any kind of Constitution breaches in the case against President Basescu.

Right after debates were over and the vote was final, a crowd of some 2,000 people gathered in Universitate Square sparking  a spontaneous protest toward the Parliament’s decision.

The President arrived and held a speech to encourage his supporters: “ I will never betray my people!(…) All my actions have been done for the good of the people that elected me(...) As soon as the electoral campaign starts I will disclose everything I know!”, the president  told an enthusiastic crowd.

The President asked the people to protest in peace and remember that in a democracy, the people’s power stands in its right to vote for the person who represents it best.

Basescu accused his political adversaries of orchestrating his suspension for gaining access to the judiciary  in order to control prosecutors and  bury  incriminating files.

Former justice minister Monica Macovei, whose judiciary reform efforts were praised by Brussels  was dismissed a few weeks ago for not countersigning a document on postponing Romanian elections for the European Parliament in order to launch referendum on suspending President Traian Basescu.

Although Basescu seems to be a “people’s superstar”, PM Calin Poescu Tariceanu still has an ”ace in his sleeve”, according to Strator, a consultancy agency for world politics also known as” the shadow CIA”.

Accordind to Strator experts, the Parliament, favorable to Tariceanu can draft a  law that would forbid Basescu from running for President in the following five years by modifying the criteria of eligibility for Presidency candidates.

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