Romania's four pro-Western parties have agreed to form a parliamentary majority to prevent far-right groups from forming a government, amid political turmoil after the country's Constitutional Court annulled the country's presidential election.
On the eve of the second round of elections, which was cancelled, data was published about Russia's malign influence, which led to the annulment of the first round of presidential elections, in which a pro-Russian political outsider won.
The four parties that together won the most votes in the Dec. 1 parliamentary election -- the left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD), the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the reformist Save Romania Union (USR) and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR -- reached a late deal December 10 in Bucharest.
"Today, the pro-European parties PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR plus the Parliamentary Group of National Minorities express their firm commitment to form a pro-European majority in the Romanian Parliament, a pro-European government, and possibly support a joint pro-European candidate in the presidential elections," the four parties said in a joint statement. published late on December 10.
The agreement comes after the four parties last week gave their support to USR presidential candidate Elena Laskoni ahead of the second round scheduled for December 8. In the second round, she was supposed to face pro-Russian independent candidate Kalinu Georgesku, who won an unexpected victory in the first round on November 24.
However, on December 6, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round and ordered a repeat of the presidential elections. All after the Supreme Defense Council of that country, a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO, declassified documents that allegedly prove that Georgescu's presidential candidacy was supported by a campaign led by an unnamed "state actor" with the help of a social media platform. TikTok owned by China.
Elelna Laskoni said on December 11 that the agreement was reached because "Romania is going through a very difficult" period.
The PSD and the PNL, the two main Romanian parties that dominated Romanian politics after the fall of communism, formed a hitherto unlikely left-right alliance in 2021.
The alliance grew increasingly unpopular while eroding both parties' support among voters and allowing the unexpected rise of the pro-Russian far-right Alliance for Romanian Unity, which came a close second in the parliamentary elections, with more than 18 percent to PSD's 23 percent.
With the current instability in the country, presidential elections are unlikely to take place until early next year, while it remains unclear whether parties will have to nominate new candidates or whether Georgesku will be allowed to run again.
Bonus video:
