October 11, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 11.10.2019, 19:57

TALKS After a first round of talks with
representatives of Parliament parties, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on
Thursday announced he would designate a new Prime Minister early next week.
According to Iohannis, Romania urgently needs a new transition government and
the country very clearly steers towards a Liberal government or one built around
the National Liberal Party. The president says he supports the alternative of
snap elections although these are hard to achieve. I prefer a political
government and won’t look for another solution but a political government -
Iohannis went on to say. The president has already had a round of talks with
Parliament parties after the Social-Democratic cabinet led by Viorica Dancila
was sacked through a no confidence vote. PNL, ProRomania and USR are in favor
of snap election, but if not possible, the Liberals have voiced their readiness
to forge a cabinet led by the party’s president Ludovic Orban. The Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) is in favour of a government
around a Prime Minister from the aforementioned political group or around an
independent one. In turn the Alliance of Democrats and Liberals in Romania
(ALDE) said they do not intend to become part of a future government but would
support a new Executive assumed by the PNL, who must also appoint a Prime
Minister.

ELECTION In Romania, the campaign for November’s presidential election
officially starts on Saturday, with 14 candidates in the race, including the
incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, backed by the Liberals in opposition, the
incumbent PM Viorica Dăncilă, backed by the Social Democratic Party, Dan Barna,
backed by the USR-PLUS Alliance, Theodor Paleologu (People’s Movement Party),
Mircea Diaconu, supported by ALDE and Pro Romania, and Kelemen Hunor from the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Cătălin Ivan, Ninel Peia,
Sebastian-Constantin Popescu, John-Ion Banu, Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels and Viorel
Cataramă represent political parties from outside Parliament, whereas Bogdan Stanoevici
and Alexandru Cumpănaşu run as unaffiliated candidates. The first round of the
presidential election is due on November 10th, and the second on the 24th. Under a
government order, the Romanians living abroad will be able to vote between
November 8th and 10th in the first round, and again for 3
days, November 22nd to 24th, in the second round.

NOBEL Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the winner of the
2019 Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts to achieve peace and international
cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the
border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. Ethiopia
and Eritrea, involved in a war over disputed border territory between 1998 and
2000, resumed official relations in July 2018, after years of hostility.
On Thursday, the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Polish writer
Olga Tokarczuk, after the postponement triggered by the sex assault scandal at
the Swedish Academy, and the 2019 Prize went to Austrian Peter Handke. The last
Nobel Prize this year is the one for economics, to be awarded on Monday.