Opposition leader named as new PM in Romania

BUCHAREST - Romanian President Traian Basescu on Friday evening named Victor Ponta, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party, as the country's new prime minister.

Basescu made the designation several hours after a no-confidence motion toppled the center-right government led by former intelligence chief Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

"Today, I had consultations with the parliamentary parties in order to designate a new prime minister," Basescu said, adding the Social Democrat Party was the only one that had proposed for the office.

"Consequently, there is only one name that was proposed, Victor Ponta. That is why I invited him to the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. I signed the designation decree and entrusted him with forming a new Cabinet," the president said in a statement.

Ponta, in the meantime, pledged to "rekindle hope for Romanians that things are headed in the right direction."

He added that he would unveil a governing program and a Cabinet list in the shortest time possible.

Ponta, 40, has been the president of the Social Democratic Party since 2010. He is also the co-chair of the opposition Social Liberal Union, made of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.