and judicial systems, and against "circles of business interests" with unlawful purposes. The Constitutional Court of Romania found no clear evidence of his breach of the Constitution in the sense required by the fundamental law. However, the court ruling was only consultative, and the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament voted in favor of Băsescu's impeachment on 19 April 2007, with 322 votes for the impeachment proposal, 108 against, and 8 abstentions (the minimum number of votes needed was 233). Băsescu contested the decision, but the Constitutional Court rejected his appeal as inadmissible, and upheld the vote. In the meantime, the independent Macovei and the PD ministers had been dismissed by Prime Minister Popescu-Tăriceanu, while the European election had been postponed to the fall of 2007. Pro-Băsescu politicians have characterized the anti-Băsescu coalition that formed as "the black alliance," as it contained a broad spectrum of political parties and interests: Social-Democrats favoring heavy state involvement in the economy, National-Liberals and Conservatives favoring business interests, Hungarian minority MPs, and anti-Hungarian ultra-nationalists. In 2007, when Traian Băsescu was temporarily suspended from the Presidency, he said in a meeting: "It seems [former] President Ion Iliescu turned to more modern means [of removing political opponents], this time without calling the miners to 'defend the country', but used 322 Members of Parliament for my impeachment." 2007 Impeachment referendum As a result of the impeachment vote by the Parliament, Băsescu was suspended from his function as president on 19 April 2007, and a national referendum was held on 19 May 2007 to decide by popular vote whether to dismiss him. According to the electoral law (article 5(2) of the Referendum Law), an absolute majority of all Romanians with the right to vote is required for a positive result in a dismissal referendum, which means that almost 9 million people would have had to vote against Băsescu. After the impeachment vote, several public rallies to support Băsescu in the referendum, and protest against his suspension, were organized by PD and PLD both in Romania (Bucharest, Iaşi, etc.), as well as abroad (e.g. in Madrid). On 17 April Băsescu stated that if Parliament voted for his impeachment, he would resign "five minutes" after the vote, avoiding a referendum for dismissal and triggering early presidential elections. However, on 20 April he decided not to resign, claiming he wished to limit the period of political instability. Băsescu and his supporters