Romanian President Traian Basescu on Wednesday criticized the fact that the new government is an ultra-minority executive, noting that Romania needs elections, so that the voice of the people is not stifled.

"Parliament has voted in a new government. But my political responsibility urges me to tell you that this government has only 20 percent direct support in parliament and a majority negotiated backstage and not transparently," Basescu said a day after having signed a decree appointing the revamped government.

Basescu said Romania needs a strong government and a steady majority so as to combat poverty, curb criminality and improve infrastructure.

The new cabinet passed the investiture vote in parliament on Tuesday afternoon, with 303 votes in favor and 27 against. The validation requires the minimum 235 votes in favor out of the total of 469 MPs.

The cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu on Monday is based on a Liberal structure, with 4 members of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, but none of the pro-presidential Democratic Party.

"The current political situation is not incidental, but structural. It proves us that relations among state institutions were ill-tailored," Basescu said, adding that another cause is institutional confusion generated by the ambiguity and imprecision of the constitutional text.

The president also called for a responsible debate on constitutional reform, saying "we need a new constitution able to avoid institutional stalemates and adjusted to the European realities."

"But above all," he stressed, "we need elections," because the current government looks more like a Board of Directors united by business interests rather than general interests.

Romania is currently witnessing a period of political turbulence. The feud has pitted Basescu's Democratic Party against Prime Minister Tariceanu's National Liberal Party. Meanwhile, the opposition Social Democrats are trying to impeach the president.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)