- << For The National Liberal Party, a Nicușor Dan who became the president of the country opens the way to the award of the Bucharest City Hall, by throwing the mayor of Sector 6, Ciprian Ciucu, into the fight. He has enough essential qualities to succeed Nicușor Dan at the Bucharest City Hall, he just needs his party not to succumb to the temptation of unhealthy backstage games. >>
That’s what I wrote a year ago, on December 16, 2024, when the political scene was reset after the cancellation of the presidential elections, in the context of Russian interference in the Romanian electoral process.
In the meantime, Nicușor Dan was elected president, the National Liberal Party did not get lost in unhealthy backstage games, and designated its most successful liberal mayor, Ciprian Ciucu, as a candidate for the Bucharest City Hall. In the end, Ciucu easily won the election.
So far, Sunday night’s victory is Ciprian Ciucu’s greatest political achievement.
It is also a remarkable victory for the Liberals, considering that the last mayor to win Bucharest for this party was Crin Halaicu, more than three decades ago.
Last but not least, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan scored precious points, as his party has given the general mayor under his mandate, and, more than that, Ilie Bolojan was also the most important supporter of Ciprian Ciucu’s candidacy.
Given Bolojan’s difficult mission – to navigate without sinking both through the restless waters of the people in his party and through the even murkier waters of the ruling coalition – Ciprian Ciucu’s success in this election significantly strengthens the prime minister’s position.
It should be noted that, for Bolojan, political dividends also appear on the relationship with the other great power base, in this case the head of state. Nicușor Dan did not sit on the sidelines in this campaign, and let his preference and support for another candidate, Cătălin Drulă of the Save Romania Union, be as visible as possible.
The defeat of the Social Democratic Party in this election in which its most influential and ambitious mayor, Daniel Băluță, had run, only adds new elements of support to the Liberals and in the coalition, to the position of the same Ilie Bolojan, as well as to the party he leads.
It should be noted, as far as the nationalist AUR party is concerned, that its leader’s George Simion’s strategy of betting on a candidate from outside the party failed, just as this kind of approach had failed after the cancellation of the first round of the presidential elections. Then, in the first phase, AUR, on Simion’s order, had supported Calin Georgescu’s candidacy, only to find out at the last minute that the solution was unviable, as Georgescu was not allowed to run. And when Simion ran for office, Simion lost (for the second time in six months – a record in losses!)
George Simion’s “courage” not to personally take responsibility for his candidacy in Bucharest says a lot about his real capacity for electoral traction. I developed this topic the other day – HERE.
The result of the elections in Bucharest definitively puts a lid on the USR’s strategy of betting on Cătălin Drulă even though there were already enough elements to anticipate a fiasco.
The party and its candidate would have had infinitely more to gain if in the last week they had exited the competition to support the best-placed candidate from the reformist and pro-Western segment, Ciprian Ciucu.
First of all, USR and Cătălin Drulă would have benefited by not having the chance to see their failure formalized, after the votes were counted.
And secondly – much more important in the long term – USR and Cătălin Drulă would have gained in terms of trust and responsibility, in the eyes of pro-Western public opinion, because they would not have allowed the persistence of emotions until the last moment that Bucharest could have returned to the PSD or, worse, that it could have fallen into the hands of pro-Russian extremists. I explained all this in their time – HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
Precious lessons from Sunday’s Bucharest elections can be drawn by both the losers and the winners.
The Putinist-extremist discourse of the AUR has not yet caught on in key areas of the country, and the fact of betting on “trumpets”, and not on people with rigorous training and path remains a millstone.
The Social Democrats remain haunted by their reputation as a party of great corruption, a reputation accumulated over decades that is not washed away by cheap political marketing maneuvers.
USR bet on a loser, Cătălin Drulă, who last year seemed to dream and aim for the presidency only to soon lose the leadership of the party, and the possibility of being designated, under those conditions, as a presidential candidate.
The Liberal Party, Ciucu and Bolojan must be careful not to let themselves be intoxicated by success, because the political situation of the country and the geopolitical situation of the world are both weaker than ever and prone to dramatic upheavals.
- PS: At the time this text was published, the exit-polls were clearly favorable to Ciprian Ciucu, and almost half of the vote count had already run.
