PM and PNL leader Florin Cîțu did not survive the no-confidence vote on Tuesday: ex-coalition members of the reformist USR voted along with the opposition PSD. His administration collapsed less than a year after its formation, reports POLITICO. The day after his government’s collapse, Cîțu proved a sore loser, attacking the USR: “I tolerated a team of incompetents”, reported Digi24.

The government collapse could lead to early elections, which are triggered when a prime minister and cabinet are rejected twice in a row by Parliament. The PSD has demanded an election as soon as possible. President Iohannis has invited all parties for consultations to Cotroceni on Monday, reports Digi24. 

Meanwhile an INSCOP poll indicates that if elections were to be held now, the social democratic PSD would get 35% and PNL 21.9% of the vote, reports G4Media. USR would drop to 9.8% and AUR would almost double its current number of mandates to 17.1%. Former PSD strongman Liviu Dragnea announced on Thursday that his new Alianţa Pentru Patrie (Alliance for the Fatherland) already has more than 80,000 members and organisational structures in 35 counties, reported Agerpres.