Romanian lawmakers voted on Thursday to suspend President Traian Basescu, with an overwhelming 322 votes in favour and 108 against.

The motion needed only 233 votes to pass, while 18 MPs and senators from the 465 that make up the country's bicameral legislature were absent, including Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

A parliamentary commission found the president guilty of overstepping his constitutional authority and recommended his suspension last month.

Basescu refuted the claims and was backed by the Constitutional Court, which said the infringements did not justify his suspension.

The parliament's decision has to be validated by a referendum within 30 days of the vote, but Basescu said last week he would resign in order to bring on snap polls, if suspended.

Senate Speaker Nicolae Vacaroiu will be the nominal head of state until the issue is resolved, either via referendum or early elections.

Romania joined the European Union in January, celebrating the occasion with its worst political crisis after the fall of communism.

Basescu's ongoing war of words with Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the left-wing opposition had little effect on the president's public approval rankings, but effectively paralysed both the government and the parliament.

Tariceanu resolved to boot ministers from Basescu's Democratic Party out of the cabinet earlier this month, ending the four-year-long association between the Democrats and Tariceanu's own Liberals.

The two parties were previously the senior partners in the cabinet that pushed for the reforms that took Romania into the EU.

Nevertheless, Basescu remains by far the most popular politician in the country and can expect re-election and a repeat of the current crisis, unless the existing constitutional framework, which mixes features of the parliamentary and presidential republic models, is amended.

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