BUCHAREST, October 5. /TASS/. The Romanian Parliament backed a vote of no confidence in the government led by Florin Citu, representative of National Liberal Party (PNL), Digi 24 TV channel reported on Tuesday.

The proposal introduced by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) was supported by 281 deputies, at least 234 votes were needed for its adoption.

The sitting government should now be dissolved, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will soon convene a meeting of the parties represented in parliament to hold consultations on the appointment of a new prime minister.

As a result of the political crisis in Romania in early September, the alliance of Save Romania Union and the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (USR-PLUS) withdrew from the ruling center-right coalition and, along with the opposition, Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR), and passed to the Parliament a vote of no confidence in the Citu’s government. In turn, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers sent an appeal to the Constitutional Court (CC), in which it was claimed that the signatures under this proposal were invalid.

The purpose of this appeal was to prevent or delay the discussion in the Parliament of the issue of confidence in the government, since after the withdrawal from the ruling coalition of the USR-PLUS, the Citsu government lost the support of the parliamentary majority. The Constitutional Court considered the Prime Minister's appeal on September 28 and obliged parliament to "discuss the proposed vote of no confidence in the government and express its position by voting."

Immediately after the decision of the Constitutional Court was announced, the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Romania submitted its own proposal to parliament for a vote of no confidence in the government of Citu. The Social Democrats leader, Marcel Ciolacu, said that the decision of the Constitutional Court, which simultaneously recognized the existence of a legal conflict between parliament and the government, gives the Prime Minister the opportunity to challenge the result of the vote in Parliament on the proposal of the USR-PLUS and remain in power.

Representatives of the USR-PLUS and the Alliance for the Unification of Romanians announced that they would support any proposal of a vote of no confidence in the government, whoever it belongs to.