The procedure for the suspension of Nicușor Dan has begun, Diana Șoșoacă announces. How many parliamentarians signed: “There is already a big scandal in their parties”

The deputies of SOS Romania have begun the process of collecting signatures for the suspension of President Nicușor Dan, the leader of the formation, Diana-Iovanovici Șoșoacă, announced on Monday, according to which 155 parliamentarians have signed so far.

She refused to mention the other parties from which the parliamentarians who signed the initiative come.

“We were asked not to publish the names of the individuals because there is already a very big scandal in the respective parties”, claimed Soșoacă, Monday evening, in a press conference at the headquarters of the formation, according to Agerpres.

The MEP said that, starting from May 8, more than 400,000 SOS Romania members and sympathizers in the country and in the diaspora have spoken out for the dismissal of President Nicușor Dan.

“If we want to restore the rule of law in Romania (…) we will have to get rid of Nicușor Dan as well”, said Șoșoacă.

“95% of Romanians do not recognize Nicușor Dan as president,” claims Șoșoacă

The leader of SOS Romania asked the head of state and the secret services to “resign with honor”.

“Parliament is elected by Romanians to fulfill what the Romanian people want. (…) 95% of Romanians want the dismissal of Nicușor Dan and do not recognize him as president. (…) I will personally notify all international institutions so that they know that the Romanian people, for the most part, do not consider Nicușor Dan the president of Romania”, added Șoșoacă.

She criticized Nicușor Dan for not organizing consultations for the appointment of a prime minister with all parties represented in Parliament and pleaded for early elections.

The leader of the SOS Romania deputies, Silvia Macovei, mentioned that among the reasons cited for the suspension of the head of state are the “refusal to be a mediator and the guarantor of the Constitution” and the violation of the Fundamental Law of the Romanian state.

How can the head of state be suspended

The President of Romania can be suspended from office by a vote of the Parliament and dismissed by a referendum.

The procedure is provided by Article 95 of the Constitution:

• “(1) In case of committing serious acts that violate the provisions of the Constitution, the President of Romania may be suspended from office by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, in a joint session, with the vote of the majority of the deputies and senators, after consulting the Constitutional Court. The President may give explanations to the Parliament regarding the acts attributed to him.
• (2) The proposal for suspension from office can be initiated by at least one third of the number of deputies and senators and is brought to the attention of the president without delay.
• (3) If the proposal for suspension from office is approved, within 30 days at most a referendum is organized for the dismissal of the president.”

So far, in our country there have been two precedents for triggering this procedure, each time it was about President Traian Băsescu. He was twice suspended from office by Parliament, five years apart, in 2007 and 2012, but both referendums to remove him were invalidated.

The two referendums for the dismissal of Traian Băsescu were organized based on the law that provided for the presence at the polls of at least 50% of the number of people with the right to vote.

The referendum law was then amended, so that the referendum is validated if at least 30% of the number of people registered in the permanent electoral lists participate in it, compared to 50% plus 1, as was provided before.

The result of the referendum is validated if the options validly expressed represent at least 25% of those registered on the permanent electoral lists.