Romanian President Traian Basescu said Thursday he has invited all parties to negotiate the formation of a new government at the presidential palace on Friday. In his first public statement following the November 30 general elections, he criticized the electoral law which he says has a major deficiency: lack of fairness. He said the system must be improved, but not changed at fundamental level. He said he hoped the nomination of a new prime minister would be made before December 15 and the new government be validated by December 24.
Key points of President Basescu's speech:
- In compliance with the Constitution, when consulting political parties I'll consider their position in the Parliament according to the number of their seats
- I did so in 2004 when there was a difference of one seat between the-then D.A. Alliance and the Social Democrats
- I invited parties for consultations in the order given by the numbers of seats each has in the Parliament
- Some considerations about the legislation, given that elections are over and changes to electoral law were subjects of a referendum
- I still consider the current law is a step forward as compared to previous one which was based on voting according to lists of candidates
- But the biggest deficiency of the current law is the lack of fairness. the law allows the allocation of seats to candidates who came third or fourth in their constituencies
- Those who created this law now have the opportunity to admit their errors
- It's a matter of the Guinness Book that a candidate with a criminal file wins against the Justice minister in the electoral process
- The system must be improved, not subjected to fundamental changes
- My goal in consulting political parties: to learn their vision on the creation of the future government in a difficult moment, considering the effects of the global crisis on the Romanian economy
- I will pay special attention to the level of competence within party ranks
- I fully support keeping the pensions at their current level
- We have difficulties with the state budget
- I do not name the prime minister, I only select him - the Parliament will validate him or not, by vote
- I hope I'd select a prime minister before December 15 and that we have a new government before December 24
- Our main goal - to give Romania a government that can manage the crisis period
