The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (known by its Hungarian acronym RMDSZ) will have five prefect and 10 vice-prefect positions, former prime minister Ludovic Orban has announced. The National Liberal Party he leads has obtained 23 prefects and 47 vice-prefects, while the third party of the governing alliance, the Save Romania Alliance (USR), has secured 14 prefect and 28 vice-prefect positions (via Székelyhon).
The details will be ironed out in a couple of weeks, Orban added. Prefects in Romania’s 41 counties and the capital of Bucharest are government-appointed officials who generally oversee regional development, laws and emergency response, among other things. Local administrations, however, is provided by elected mayors and councils of individual settlements.
The number of positions secured through the negotiations is proportional to the votes cast in the elections, the Romanian news agency Agerpress writes.
While there have been rumors that negotiations had hit a roadblock, Orban refuted such speculation. However, in Bihar/Bihor County, for example, all three governing parties would name their own representative for the prefect position.
As we previously reported, the three political parties forming Romania’s center-right coalition have reached an agreement on the structure of the government. While the low turnout at the Romanian legislative elections held on December 6, 2020, showed the constituents’ disappointment with the current political parties, RMDSZ scored another victory, assuring its presence in both houses of parliament for the next four years; and with the coalition agreement, it also secured positions in the government.
Title image: Meeting at the Maros/Mures County Prefect Office. Image source: Facebook.
