BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s Constitutional Court said Tuesday that a majority of the electorate must turn out to vote in order for a referendum on ousting the president to be valid, a ruling that may make it harder for President Traian Basescu’s opponents to push him out.

The court’s decision is the latest development in a growing power struggle in Romania between factions loyal to Basescu and those supporting his rival, Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The wrangling has led to international concern about the fate of democracy in the eastern European nation, which emerged from communism in 1989.