In a last-ditch attempt to stop the rise of pro-Russia parties, influential Bucharest mayor Nicuşor Dan on Monday added his voice to the nail-biting presidential elections, which could see an unprecedented rise of pro-Russia parties in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Dan said the only way to avoid that scenario was for anti-populist parties to rally around a single candidate ahead of the Nov. 24 rather than split the vote between different candidates.
Currently, some polls predict Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu reaching a Dec. 8 runoff with populist George Simion, who uses Russia talking points on Ukraine. Ciolacu appears to favor a runoff with Mr. Simion as it will give him an edge.
Mr. Dan said it was only possible to avoid that situation if Romania’s Liberal Party and Save Romania Union_each fielding a candidate, agreed to his proposal.
He declined to name which candidate should step down, Liberal hopeful Nicolae Ciuca or Save Romania Union proposal, Elena Lasconi or former deputy NATO chief, Mircea Geoana, an independent.
If Mr. Simion reaches the second round, it will give his AUR populist party a significant boost ahead of Dec. 1 parliamentary ballot. Another Russia-friendly party, SOS, is also forecast to enter the Romanian Parliament for the first time. Universul.net editor-in-chief Laurentiu Mihu also called for Romania’s pro-European political parties to rally around a single candidate, in an op-ed headlined ‘Negotiate!”
The Bucharest mayor declined to go into specifics who the best candidate would be.
“You realize that I cannot answer this question, because I am an independent mayor who has a council meeting today with the parties that have candidates in the elections. What … several people from the center-right have said is that would be good for there to be only one candidate. Whether this can be done or not depends on the parties,” he added.
Asked who had a better chance of reaching the second round among the center-right candidates. “It’s not an answer I can give you. Obviously, the candidates who are best in the polls must be credited. Now we all know how the polls look and what is the degree of reflection of reality,” he added.
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