Former Romanian PM Nicolae Ciucă elected Senate president

The Romanian Senate voted to make former prime minister and current president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Nicolae Ciucă, its new president, following his resignation as head of the executive.

The former PM received 88 votes in favor and 16 against, being supported by the same coalition of Social Democrats and Liberals. Anca Dragu, the proposal from the reformist opposition party USR, received 16 votes in favor and 88 against.

Among those absent from the vote were former liberal PM Florin Cîțu and the two ministers from the Hungarian ethnic minority party, UDMR, according to News.ro. UDMR is reportedly being left out of a new coalition, which will be between the Social Democrats and the Liberals.

After being elected as the president of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă thanked the senators for their confidence and said that he will continue working to achieve the political objectives set at the coalition level.

He also showed appreciation for the Parliament's support for the Government he led.

"I want to thank you for your vote of confidence and assure you that from this position, together with you, we will continue our work to achieve the political objectives set at the coalition level and to support the entire government activity. We have projects that will continue to modernize and develop Romania, and for this, we need to carry out our work and find solutions to facilitate, from a legislative standpoint, everything that this grand project entails," Ciucă stated, according to News.ro.

Nicolae Ciucă did not want to remain as interim prime minister until the new government was installed, and the minister of justice was instead appointed in this position. Consultations for the appointment of a new prime minister, held between several political parties and president Klaus Iohannis, took place on Tuesday, June 13, at the Cotroceni Palace.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Sabin Cirstoveanu)