Romania PM Backed in Confidence Vote

Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta won Tuesday's confidence vote in Parliament.

The vote in both houses of Parliament was in his favour with a total of 346 to 192, Dnevnik.bg has reported.

Last week's decision of the Liberal party to leave the government put Ponta's political future into question and cast shadows over the ability of Romania to comply with a deal it has signed with the IMF over a USD 4 B aid.

Ponta's cabinet, led by his Social Democratic Party, secured support by lawmakers after talks with an ethnic Hungarian party and other minority representatives, whose backing helped the Prime Minister collect 55% of the seats in Parliament.

His victory, however, does not seem to put an end to political uncertainty in a country with a significant and ineffective public sector and fiscal rifts involving a budget deficit and insufficient tax collection.

The newly-approved cabinet will have to implement reforms to keep support until the presidential elections, which are scheduled for November this year.

Traian Basescu, the current head of state, is also a source of trouble to Ponta, as the two politicians have frequently clashed over a number of policies.

Citing Romanian newspaper Journalul National, Dnevnik.bg reports that Ponta and Basescu met on Tuesday and their talks continued about 15 minutes, ending with no press statements.

In the summer of 2012, a political deadlock was caused by an infight between their factions, which resulted in President Basescu's impeachment by Parliament. At the end of July, he returned to power after a referendum on his suspension was deemed invalid due to low voter turnout.

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