Lower Chamber Plenary Session Suspended for Lack of Quorum

The vote was supposed to take place around 12.00 local time, following debates on the Liberal Party’s motion during Tuesday’s session.

The social-democrats’ Lower Chamber group held a meeting shortly before the vote was due to begin to decide their stance on the matter.

PSD MP Eugen Nicolicea said after the suspension that the vote will be rescheduled for a later date at the following plenary session, adding the party will not be boycotting the procedure.

“If it was suspended because of a a lack of quorum it will be scheduled for another date at the following session. We can’t take a decision to permanently not attend the vote because we are not going on strike,” Nicolicea said after the meeting was suspended.

This comes as the justice minister is facing criticism from within the ruling coalition for his recent judicial decree, which led to widespread protests among Romanian magistrates. Lower Chamber Deputy Chairman Florin Iordache requested his resignation during Tuesday’s debates on the motion, while Hungarian minority party UDMR announced that it will “sanction” Toader for the measures by vote.