Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is set to announce his bid to run for president in elections this year, ending months of speculation and injecting a note of unpredictability into the race.
Mr. Ciolacu, 56, reportedly did not want to run for the country’s top job which would bring a new level of scrutiny he has never had. He is seen as an effective party leader, and an able politician, but lacks charisma and has never run for office.
He was first elected to Parliament in 2012 and previously served as the speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies. He became prime minister of the Social Democratic-Liberal coalition government in 2023.
An interesting twist means that the Social Democratic Party, Romania’s largest political group which emerged from the disbanded Communist Party in 1990, will not field Mircea Geoana, the deputy secretary-general of NATO and a former Social Democrat party leader.
Due to his wide international and domestic experience, Geoana was viewed as a better candidate for the Social Democrats. In the 35 years since communism ended, the Social Democrats have only once held the presidency with Ion Iliescu who held the post from 1990 to 1996 and 2000 to 2004.
It is unclear whether Mr. Geoana, 65, will now announce a bid as an independent.
Two women are also running for the nation’s top job: former Justice Minister Ana Birchall who’s running as an independent and Elena Lasconi, who heads the centrist Save Romania Union.
He will face Liberal Party leader, Nicolae Ciuca, a former prime minister and ex-Chief of Staff.
The presidential election will be held in November with a runoff in December if no candidate wins 50% of the vote.
Mr. Ciolacu, whose party has a pro-Western foreign policy, announced his intention on Tuesday to party colleagues who were apparently pressing him to enter the race. Some were loath to support Geoana, who’s no longer a party member.
“Hello, this is Marcel Ciolacu speaking. After I had consultations with many of you, I made the decision to run for Romania’s Presidency. I wanted you to find this out from me and not on television, as this decision will be debated on at the party congress on Saturday,” he told his party colleagues.
