The attempt to impeach Romanian President Traian Basescu failed after voter turnout in a national referendum fell a few points shy of the 50 percent plus one threshold needed for a binding decision.
Of the just over 46 percent of Romania’s 18 million eligible voters who came to the polls, however, Basescu detractors voted in droves, with nearly 88 percent wanting to see the president go.
The impeachment was instigated by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and 256 lawmakers in Romania’s left-leaning Social Liberal Union (SLU)-dominated Parliament.
Prime Minister Ponta has claimed that the president lost credibility in dealing with the euro crisis.
“He can’t ignore the vote of 8 million Romanians,” said Ponta at a government press conference, according to his Facebook page.
Basescu supports the austerity measures requested by the eurozone, a move that hurt his and his party’s popularity in last month’s elections.
In announcing his victory in the impeachment plebiscite Sunday night after exit polls were announced, Basescu thanked the Romanian electorate for thwarting the coup attempt by interim President Crin Antonescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
He said that the referendum hadn’t been about impeaching him, but was about whether Romania was to have closer ties with the European Union.
The power struggle between left and right in Romania has delayed economic reforms. The International Monetary Fund, which had been waiting for the referendum results, will start its review of Romania’s $ 6.1 billion aid deal this week.
“Romanians decided their own fate today invalidating the referendum plebiscite proposed by 256 lawmakers,” Basescu said.
Basescu, whose power was suspended pending the result of the referendum, will return to his palace on Aug. 1.
This was not the first attempt by members of the SLU bloc—which is dominated by the communist-linked Social Democratic Party—to impeach Basescu since he came to power in 2004.
In 2007, just after he officially condemned the former Romanian communist regime as criminal and illegal, Basescu was also targeted for impeachment. He survived and then narrowly won re-election in 2009 for a second five-year term.
Many analysts have described the current impeachment attempt as a coup-d'état that has shaken Romanian political circles.
Prime Minister Ponta himself has come under fire under allegations that he plagiarized 85 pages of his doctorate thesis from several books, as verified by a council for degree certification. He told media on June 28 that he would resign if plagiarism were proven.
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