Romania's largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), will invite the lawmakers to vote once again the law that entitles them to set the general elections day, as opposed to the Government as until now, and will decide further actions depending on the vote result, PSD head Marcel Ciolacu announced, News.ro reported.

He thus reopened the debate on the general elections calendar after it seemed that no other option than December 6 was likely. This remains the baseline scenario despite Ciolacu's recent comments.

Indeed, the law cleared by the Constitutional Court and returned by president Klaus Iohannis to Parliament can be quickly passed once again before the beginning of the electoral campaign on November 6, as Ciolacu implied. Once promulgated, the law invalidates the Government's electoral calendar - a retroactive implication that the Constitutional Court also cleared.

However, this leaves a short time for lawmakers to approve another electoral calendar since their term expires on December 20, and there is no broad consensus among the opposition parties about deferring the elections for March 2021 - as once implied by PSD head Ciolacu. The chances are that PSD succeeding in having the new law promulgated would lead to a deadlock.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Marcel Ciolacu)