USR's Barna urges President Iohannis to think longer term

National leader of the Save Romania Union (USR) Dan Barna said on Tuesday that President Klaus Iohannis reconfirmed, during their talks at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace consultations, that he wants early elections, but after the November presidential poll, arguing that the right time for early elections is now, as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) is weak. 

"I came out of talks where President Iohannis reconfirmed that he wants early elections. But he believes that the timing for the early elections should be discussed only after the presidential election. His argument was the need to urgently replace [ousted prime minister] Dancila. Mr Iohannis, let us think longer term! What is the alternative to the early elections? Accept now a weak government deprived of parliamentary support, permanently at the mercy of PSD and the other PSD parties in Parliament led by Ponta and Tariceanu, parties that together have a parliamentary majority. Such a Government will not be able to make the reforms that Romania needs and we wake up, as we did in 2016, to the realisation that in one year's time PSD returns to power riding high. Have you forgotten 2016? I know very well what I'm talking about, I was a member of the Ciolos Government, I know how much the lack of support affected us," Barna says in a Facebook post. 

In his opinion, this is the right time for early elections, "now that PSD is weak." 

"Let's rather have the early elections now that PSD is weak. Let's get before the people now and win a strong majority in Parliament. I can guarantee that if we hold elections now, PSD will not return to power for 10 years. If you really want to get the country rid of PSD, you have to have the courage to do it now. And if the current Constitution does not seem to you to facilitate early elections, let's make a commitment, that any of us who wins the presidential election will start off a process of amending the Constitution to include, among other things, the possibility of the President initiating a dissolution referendum on Parliament when it no longer reflects the will of the citizens, as it does now, when the current Parliament configuration based on the 2016 vote has no longer anything to do with the people's vote of May 26. We have a new party in Parliament, which was not on the lists of the 2016 elections and there are 54 lawmakers who have defected to a different party than the one on which lists they won their seat in Parliament," argues Barna.