Romanian Democrat Liberals Seek Solid Parliament Majority Of 290/471 Seats

Boc said he hopes liberals will act wisely and rationally and will help build a strong majority around the future government. Boc said Romania needs a solid majority to push through reforms in 2010, which will not be an easy year despite expected economic growth.

"It'll be a year that requires a solid and strong government which can be formed by democrat liberals, liberals, the Hungarian minority party and other national minorities, a majority that would amount to 280-290 lawmakers," Boc said, adding democrat liberals want such a majority and don't know how they will achieve it yet.

The Romanian Parliament has 471 lawmakers and a new government needs 236 votes to be installed.

Boc also said the issue of the desired Parliament majority goes beyond a confidence vote needed to install a new government, because a new government will be installed. However, he said, that government needs further Parliament support to pass laws and allow it to take measures that need to be applied.

"The real issue is the majority that would back a new government and I believe in a health right-wing majority, with the parties I've named. The Democratic Liberal Party has done and is doing its best to build such a majority," Boc said.

Romania's incumbent President Traian Basescu was reelected in the presidential election runoff last Sunday, which has yet to be validated by the Constitutional Court. The Court also has to rule on a request by social democrats to cancel the election and order a rerun. Social democrats said the election was marred by electoral fraud after their candidate Mircea Geoana lost the election by less than one percentage point.

Romania's minority government led by Boc collapsed in a no-confidence vote mid-October and has been functioning with limited powers since, as the Parliament has rejected one proposed Cabinet and refused to hold a vote on a second.

Although they have the largest number of seats in Parliament, Basescu's democrat liberals still don't have enough to push through a new government and are now seeking alliances across party lines.

Romania, hit hard by the global crisis, relies heavily on a EUR20 million IMF-led loan package obtained in spring. After the government collapsed, the IMF and the European Commission withheld further disbursements of the loan expecting Romania to regain political stability and adopt next year's state budget.

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