24 parliamentarians who have joined the dissident “Liberal Platform” movement this autumn have announced their resignation from the National Liberal Party-PNL, one of the two major political groups forming the governing coalition. They first planned to resign last week, but opted to postpone the move until the state budget is adopted. The Parliament passed the bill earlier today.

They are 16 deputies and 8 senators who have joined a the “Liberal Platform”, a political initiative turned political movement led by former leaders of the PNL, including former party president Theodor Stolojan. They withdrew or were expelled from PNL over the past several months due to their opposition towards the current leadership of the party, led by PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

The new group announced today they would support initiatives of the governing coalition in Parliament.

The mass resignation leaves PNL with a single seat above its coalition partner, the Democratic Party (PD), in the Parliament. The Democrats have been saying they would consider both parties for political cooperation in the legislative.