Romania’s parliament today rejected the candidacy of liberal MEP Siegfried Mureșan for the post of prime minister, prolonging the political crisis in which the country is mired and reviving the prospect of early elections, which are being demanded by the right-wing parties, currently leading in the polls.

Mureșan received just 182 votes, far fewer than the 233 required to form a government, according to the official results.

This is the second time that parliament has rejected a candidate proposed by President Nicușor Dan since the fall of Ilie Bolojan’s pro-European government in early May.

Centrist President Dan had nominated two previous candidates for prime minister: his adviser, Eugen Tomac, who withdrew his candidacy before the parliamentary vote was held, and liberal Adrian Veștea, who failed to secure the required votes.

“Another candidate proposed by Nicușor Dan has FAILED,” said the leader of the main far-right party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the country’s second-largest political force, which had pledged to vote against all proposed candidates.

Leading in two recent polls, with almost 40% of voting intention in one and 36% in the other, AUR is calling for early elections.

The center-left PSD, the largest party with 129 seats in parliament, has also refused to support any of the proposed candidates, insisting that the prime minister should come from its ranks.

“Romania urgently needs a government that will be fully capable of changing the wrong direction in which we find ourselves! We are ready to take on the task of rebuilding Romania,” its leader, Sorin Grindeanu, wrote on Facebook after the vote.

A member of the governing coalition, the PSD withdrew from the government in mid-April in protest against the austerity measures introduced by Bolojan to reduce the country’s budget deficit, the largest in the European Union.

It subsequently allied itself with AUR to oust him. Since then, Bolojan has been managing day-to-day affairs due to the lack of a successor.