The party's move into opposition

The National Liberal Party (PNL) has decided to leave government and go into opposition, and it has asked the politicians it backed for posts to give those posts up. PNL president Ilie Bolojan said on Saturday, 17 October, that dignitaries backed by the party would submit their resignations in the first days of the following week and would no longer hold the posts they occupy with its support. The decision drew a sharp reaction from inside the party itself.

Tișe's demand for Bolojan's resignation

Alin Tișe, president of the Cluj County Council, wrote on Facebook on Monday, 19 October, that the people who led the party should go first. He named Bolojan directly and said that the leadership, which together did not have the votes of a single PNL mayor, had brought the party into a disastrous situation. Tișe has long disputed Bolojan's leadership, and he said Bolojan should take political responsibility for the decision.

“The first one who must resign is Ilie Bolojan, together with all the incompetent people in the leadership.”

Instructions to local officials

Tișe told party members in office not to step down. He argued that the people holding local and political posts had earned them through their work and were not responsible for the leadership's management.

“Enough! Everyone leaves or no one does! No PNL member in the country should resign from their political posts!”

Tișe also criticised the central leadership for deciding the party's political future without asking members in the regions whether they wanted to be in government or in opposition. He said the decision affected families, and he added a second quote in the same vein.

“Leave people alone! Do not decide their fate, their lives and their families' future.”

Conditions for mass departures

Tișe said mass departures should only be discussed once everyone holding PNL-backed political posts gives them up. He listed directors, advisers, heads of bodies, people sitting on lucrative boards of directors, and those whose mandates had been extended ahead of schedule.

He accused the leadership of hiding behind appointment and promotion procedures to avoid responsibility, and he said it could not decide alone which PNL members should leave and which should stay.