The dissenting voices in the National Liberal Party, or PNL, decided Thursday to stop voicing their discontent and opted instead for setting up a party of their own: the Liberal Democrat Party, or PLD.

Thus they gave up their attempts to topple the current PNL leadership and moved the battle outside the PNL court, and into the bigger scene of Romanian politics.

The decision to set up a new party in the form of the PLD came as a surprise, as an awkward decision coming from such seasoned politicians. First, the new party put forward no political program, apart from its dissent to the rule of current PNL leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu, also current PM.

Revamping a dissenting group into a political party requires a lot more than saying no to political opponents.

For instance, how would PLD vote in parliament: for or against draft laws filed by PNL?

Or, how would PLD convince the electorate it’s a different entity from PNL?

How would it stay clear of getting into a competition with its current political buddy, the Democrat Party, or PD, formerly led by President Traian Basescu.

How would it cleat its image of allegations surfaced in the media regarding fishy deals of its high-ranking members?

The new party provided no answer to these basic questions.

Furthermore, it did not clarify the major political and social issues on which it stands.

Ranting against Tariceanu, while they were still part of the PNL, was enough to set themselves apart from the rest.

But this does not do it now for them anymore. They will have to get the votes, and crying "Down with Tariceanu!" and "Hurrah to Basescu!" will not do it for them.

So, why did the PNL dissidents rush to set up their own political shop?

Why the rush?

We will get the answers in the following days.

It will all depend on the position PNL