BUCHAREST - Romania's opposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Emil Boc on Wednesday, seeking early polls to cash in on their popularity after a week of nationwide anti-austerity protests.
Occasionally violent protests have spread across the country against Boc and his close ally President Traian Basescu, even after they withdrew a controversial health bill which triggered the unrest.
"This is the rational solution: the government must resign and we must have early general elections by the end of March," Crin Antonescu, co-leader of the leftist USL alliance, told reporters after meeting Boc.
The USL has committed to stick with the IMF, but has said it would revoke some of Boc’s austerity measures — which include salary cuts and higher value added tax — if it wins power.
Analysts said by sticking to the terms of International Monetary Fund-led aid deals since 2009, Bucharest has managed to put its once troubled economy back on the path to growth.
But that will bring short term pain and punish the policymakers who follow it.
Protests in Bucharest on Tuesday drew more than 1,000 people and were largely peaceful and another 9,000 took to the streets in other cities. More rallies were expected on Wednesday.
"Resignation: This should be the proper response politicians will give in such a moment," Antonescu said.
Boc agreed to hold an extraordinary parliament session next week to discuss the social tensions but said he would not give up his post and would stick to commitments under a 5 billion euro aid deal led by the IMF.
Latest polls show Boc’s Democrat-Liberals would get 21 percent of votes in an election, while the opposition alliance made of Liberals and the Social Democrats would garner 48 percent.
"Early elections would mean several weeks of preparation, plus two months to dissolve parliament," Boc said. "They would be at the earliest in August, instead of in October; is it really worth it to have this huge change for only two or three months?"
