Romania’s government fell on Friday in a no-confidence vote, as opposition parties seized on widespread public anger over biting austerity measures, cronyism and corruption.
Some 235 lawmakers voted against the government of Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, four more votes than needed.
Opposition leader Victor Ponta said the vote represented the end “of an abusive system that uses any weapon possible.”
“Sometimes there is justice. Today there was justice,” he declared.
President Traian Basescu will nominate a new prime minister who will then need to present a governing programme to Parliament for approval.
Former Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc, whose four-year-old government was toppled in February after weeks of often violent protests over austerity measures, called the vote “a victory for opportunism in politics and party swapping.”
However, he added: “I take responsibility for this failure.”
