Parties' non-negotiable economic priorities

These include maintaining the 16 percent flat tax except in the case of persons with income below the average wage, at 10 percent, for PSD, maintaining the flat tax and all other taxes (for PNL), and eliminating 100 taxes for PD-L.

PSD is promoting Victor Ponta, Miron Mitrea, and Cristian Diaconescu as Ministers of Justice, Transports, and Foreign Affairs, respectively. PD-L targets the positions of Minister of Internal Affairs, Finance, and Education, for which the party could nominate Vasile Blaga, Adriean Videanu, or Theodor Stolojan, and Monica Macovei for the position of Minister of Justice. For PNL key positions include the Minister of Internal Affairs, Finance, and Labor, which would be maintained by Cristian David, Varujan Vosganian, and Mariana Campeanu. Analyst Cristian Parvulescu told Business Standard that, in this uncertain situation, President Basescu has the most important role: to nominate the prime minister. “The role of President Basescu is very important, because he is the only one who can smooth out the current situation, which is very vague, given the insignificant difference in votes between PSD and PD-L,” said Parvulescu, indicating that so far no clear governing team has been drawn up.

PSD’s President, Mircea Geoana, said Monday, that, in compliance with his mandate, he will be the one to initiate discussions with the other parliamentary parties in order to form the parliamentary majority. When asked if he has been contacted by representatives of another party, Geoana evaded answering, saying that: “Even if that had been the case, I would not tell you at this time.” He added that all parliamentary parties are waiting for the final official vote count, to see where they stand. “I am convinced that negotiations with other parties will begin in the coming days,” Geoana said.

After the votes from 92.73 percent of voting stations have been counted, the PSD+PC Alliance ranks first, almost one percentage point ahead of PD-L, while PNL remains at some 18 percent, according to the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) on Monday. Data provided by BEC shows that PSD+PC obtained 2,114,501 votes (33 percent) for the Chamber of Deputies and 2,177,963 votes (33.99 percent) for the Senate. PD-L obtained 2,086,714 votes (32.57 percent) for the Chamber of Deputies and 2,165,419 votes (33.79 percent) for the Senate. PNL obtained 1,173,838 votes (18.32 percent) for the Chamber of Deputies and 1,184,794 votes (18.49 percent) for the Senate. The Democatic Union of Hungarians (UDMR) obtained 403,024 votes (6.29 percent) for the Chamber of Deputies and 419,015 votes (6.54 percent) for the Senate.

‘‘The role of President Basescu is very important, because he is the only one who can smooth out the current situation, which is very vague, given the insignificant difference in votes between PSD and PD-L Cristian Parvulescu Analyst