Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Monday said that he is backing up the idea of the Government collaborating with the President and will do so until his term in office expires, provided that the President so wishes.
” [There is] a poll conducted by a pollster that is not close to us at all and carried by a vehemently anti-government newspaper, but which findings I fully share – I am for collaboration between the Government and the President and I will do so until by term in office is over (provided the President wants that as well). The fewer the ‘electoral years’, the better it is for stability and consistency. The incumbent government obviously does not have to be replaced by a government of the PNL/PDL [the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) that merged into the new PNL] that would be fully illegitimate and led by a PDL member who cut pensions and wages, increased the VAT and indebted the country to the IMF. I will head the government for as long as the President does not agree on appointing a prime minister from the current majority and insists instead on ‘My Government’!!!”, Ponta wrote in a post in Romanian on his Facebook page.
He also voices agreement with the idea that snap elections would be totally negative to Romania and somehow impossible.
“So, let us put aside our airs and dreams of reconverted PDL members and frustrated lasses quickly making it to power and continue our job,” reads Ponta’s Facebook post.
INSCOP poll: 77% of Romanians believe the Government should closely cooperate with the President
A majority of Romanians agree that the general election and the presidential election should be held simultaneously and also that large personal fortunes should be taxed, reveal findings of an INSCOP poll conducted September 10-15.
As far as collaboration between the Government and the President is concerned, 77.8 percent of the respondents believe the Government should closely cooperate with the President on any matters of public interest (slightly down from 78.3 percent in July), 13.6 disagree and 8.6 percent are unsure.
At the same time, 63 percent of Romanians believe the general election and the presidential election should be held simultaneously, while 22.9 percent disagree and 14.2 percent did not know/did not answer.
About the political composition of the Government, 30.4 percent of the respondents agree that the incumbent government should be replaced with a government of the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) (down from 33.2 percent in July), 50 percent disagree and 19.6 percent did not know/did not answer.
Thus, 26.9 percent of the respondents believe the incumbent government should stay in office but change its prime minister, while 51.7 percent disagree with such a scenario and 21.4 percent did not know/did not answer.
The poll also reveals that 26.4 percent agree with the idea of holding snap elections (down from 30.3 percent in July), 62.4 disagree and 11.2 percent did not know/did not answer.
