Romania’s ruling coalition has lost its majority in the lower house of parliament following a string of defections from the senior ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) to former prime minister Victor Ponta’s Pro Romania party.

The coalition comprised of the PSD and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Alde) can still put together a majority of MPs in the chamber of deputies with support from minorities and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), according to stirileprotv.ro. However, it has been severely weakened by the defections, which suggest a split could be imminent within the ruling party following its latest controversial changes to fiscal and judicial legislation.

The situation is more worrying for the government as the leader of the main opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban, has already announced his party will start discussions with other political parties to submit a no-confidence motion against the government.

MP and former health minister Nicolae Banicioiu announced on May 25 he is leaving the PSD to join Ponta in Pro Romania. Banicioiu, who served as a minister in Ponta’s cabinet, is the fifth PSD member to leave the party in just one week, according to national broadcaster TVR.

After announcing his plans to join Pro Romania, Banicioiu expressed his discontent with the PSD leadership, talking of “the lack of consistency and the continuous deprofessionalisation.”

Prior to Banicioiu, four other high-profile PSD members joined Pro Romania: former tourism minister Mircea Titus Dobre, and MPs Gabriela Podasca, Marilena Meirosu and Catalin Nechifor. Moreover, former finance minister in the Ponta government, Ioana Petrescu, also announced on May 28 she has joined Pro Romania.

According to unnamed sources quoted by news portal stirileprotv.ro, PSD MPs have been summoned on May 30 to a party meeting in order to discuss the discontent within the party. Unnamed political sources quoted by digi24.ro claim that another 15-20 PSD MPs might join the former prime minister.

More defections from the PSD were admitted by the party's vice president Paul Stanescu who said that “we are witnessing a so-called desertion from PSD branches,” but claimed the number of “political migrants” is too small to have a major influence on the country’s governing.

PSD under pressure 

The current government is led by Viorica Dancila, the third prime minister to be appointed by the ruling coalition since it won the general election at the end of 2016. Both her predecessors were pushed out after disagreements with PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who is seen as the main power behind the government despite not holding a ministerial position. 

President Klaus Iohannis has repeatedly asked Dancila to resign in the last few weeks, claiming she overstepped her authority when her government announced it was taking the controversial step of moving the Romanian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

However, according to unofficial information, the PSD plans to organise a rally on June 9 to show support for Dancila. An official announcement on the rally is expected to be made by Dragnea in the coming days, according to digi24.ro.

Adding to the party’s problems, Dragnea is awaiting a sentence on May 29 on charges of instigation to abuse of power and instigation to forgery when drawing up documents. A prison sentence for Dragnea would result in a power struggle within the PSD. 

Ponta makes a comeback

Ponta relaunched his Pro Romania party on May 29, claiming it is “a start-up party”, with a pro-European orientation and called on his former party colleagues to join him, Hotnews.ro reported.

“The big traditional parties have a structural incapacity to change, to adapt, and I am saying this as a person who has tried to change a big political party,” Ponta said, adding that his party will organise a congress this autumn when its presidential candidate will be announced. Apart from Ponta, Pro Romania is co-led by former Alde co-leaders Daniel Constantin and Sorin Campeanu.

A lawyer by education, Ponta’s career has been predominantly influenced by his mentor, former prime minister Adrian Nastase, who served a prison sentence for corruption after leaving office. Ponta worked as a prosecutor from 1995, when he graduated from the Law School at the University of Bucharest, to 2001, when he joined the government as secretary of state and the head of the government's Control Department. In March 2004 he became minister-delegate for control of international grant programmes implementation and for monitoring the application of the acquis communautaire.

In April 2012, after the government of Mihai Razvan Ungureanu fell following a motion of no-confidence, Romania’s then president Traian Basescu designated Ponta as prime minister.

Under Ponta, wages in the public sector were increased after the 25% cut during the financial crisis. However, Ponta’s rule also led to the introduction of some additional taxes, such as the controversial additional excise duty on fuel.

He was seen as a potential successor to Basescu in the 2014 presidential elections. However, Ponta lost the presidential elections to Klaus Iohannis in November 2014, despite having a clear lead of 40.4% in the first round. However, this lead was reversed in the second round after Ponta was harmed by a scandal over the way many of the Romanians living abroad — who are estimated at some 4mn — were denied the right to vote in the first round because insufficient ballot stations had been set up. Expatriate Romanians typically vote in larger numbers for centre-right candidates and were expected to give a boost to Iohannis. 

This was the beginning of the end for Ponta’s stint at the top of Romanian politics. He resigned as PSD leader in July 2015 after allegations of money laundering and document forgery, although he remained prime minister. Afterwards Ponta became a harsh critic of the new party leader Dragnea, who is said to have persuaded him to leave the prime minister post.

Ponta finally resigned as prime minister in November 2015 following mass protests over a fire in a Bucharest nightclub that led to the deaths of 64 people. Demonstrators demanded deep political change in the country and an end to official corruption. He was Romania’s first prime minister to be indicted while in office. However, a Bucharest court acquitted him of corruption charges earlier this month, paving the way for his political comeback.