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| - Romania's president on Thursday nominated Ludovic Orban as prime minister in an apparent attempt to bring about a snap election, a day after the pro-European liberal lost the job. Orban's minority government collapsed Wednesday in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after just three months in office. Both Orban and President Klaus Iohannis have said they want early elections. However, Iohannis can only dissolve parliament if two attempts to instal a new executive within 60 days fail. "The right solution right now is letting the voters choose," Iohannis, who hails from the centre-right, said after consultations with political parties. "Some parties agreed with me; others needed more time to think. Until then, my next step is nominating Ludovic Orban to form a new government," Iohannis said. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) -- itself deposed in a no-confidence vote last year -- launched the motion after Orban's government attempted to change the law for local elections. Orban had wanted to reintroduce a two-round voting system, a change which the PSD had seen as a threat to its chances in a poll due in June, but which will no longer be implemented. But, ironically, the success of the motion has opened the way for a snap general election, which has not been held in Romania since the end of Communism 30 years ago. PSD, which now has the largest number of MPs, is opposed to an early ballot, while Orban's National Liberal Party (PNL) is pushing for it, as it is riding high in polls amid resentment over corruption under years of PSD-led rule. "Our goal is to make snap elections possible... to give Romanians the chance to elect a parliament that represents them," Orban told reporters on Thursday. PNL leaders suggested that their party MPs might even be willing to abstain from voting for Orban's government in parliament in order to trigger the snap election. Romania has scheduled two rounds of elections this year -- local ones in June and a general one at the end of the year. ii/jza/spm
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