The two leaders of the PSD-PNL governing coalition, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the head of the PNL, Nicolae Ciucă, announced how this year’s elections will be held, given that the two parties have reached an agreement for a merger, but also for an alliance and common lists in the European Parliament elections. The local and European parliamentary elections are to take place on June 9. The presidential elections will be moved to September, with the first round taking place on September 8, and the second round taking place on the 22nd. Finally, the parliamentary elections would take place at the usual time, on December 8.
“The final decision, beyond merger, stipulates that in the local elections each party will run on its own, and in the European Parliament elections there will be a joint list. It was a political decision aimed at the stability of the country, the coherence of the governing act, and the safety of Romania’s citizens. Romanians want stability and peace. I think it is absolutely necessary that at certain moments, the parties show a minimum sacrifice of pride for the interest of the Romanians and the stability of the country. In this period, we cannot afford to weaken the country’s stability for the sake of petty political prides that would fracture, practically, everything related to the achievement of the objectives. In this regard, the PNL mandated the party’s executive to discuss in the coalition and agree this formula of combining the European parliamentary elections with a common list and the local elections by own forces at the level of each branch,” said PNL chairman, Nicolae Ciuca.
“We all know the history of this coalition, that Romania, with all the overlapping crises, was also facing a social crisis. Neither then nor now do I have any qualms about engaging in this political project. Apart from the performance of the government, we have taken a political decision. I think this is the big difference between being a politician and being a statesman. We from the PSD and our colleagues from the PNL have also proven that we can make decisions in difficult moments. We all know that the biggest turnout in elections is the turnout from the local. The fact that we decided to do this merger is not against democracy, on the contrary, it is an extra vote for democracy and to have a fair representation. We also decided to have an electoral alliance for the European Parliament list. As much as we try to wrap the words, it is obvious that only the two big parties can unite and face an extremist wave. Neither force can engage in this battle alone. It’s about stability, assumption and Romania’s path, not necessarily from today, but from the future. This is how we were able to enter the EU and NATO. Now we have two equally important goals – to enter Schengen, this year and in 2026, for Romania to be a member of the OECD. I don’t see anything undemocratic about courageously assuming good things for Romanians and for Romania. I feel that I did what was best for my country, regardless of the cost. We have decided, apart from merging and an electoral alliance for the European Parliament, to hold the presidential elections in September. We have three options: 1-15, 8-22 or the end of the month. 8-22 would be the most suitable. December 8 date for the parliamentary elections. I see nothing unusual about the handover between the current and the new president taking place on a scheduled schedule,” said the PSD chief, PM Marcel Ciolacu, in his turn.
An informal discussion of the leaders of the Coalition took place with president Klaus Iohannis, before the meetings of PSD and PNL leaderships.
Social Democrat MEP Mihai Tudose said previously in the morning, in a joint statement with the Liberal MEP Rareș Bogdan, at the end of the coalition meeting, that the discussion was “very serious, in-depth”, quoting a recent “sociological survey” that points to merged elections.
“We were waiting for a sociological research about what Romanians want and to act in this sense. That research arrived last night, more than 60% of Romanians want the merging of the elections and an even larger majority want continuity of governance, stability, coherence in governance”, declared Mihai Tudose.
In his turn, Rareș Bogdan added that it is a serious research, in which 2,800 people were involved.
On Tuesday, Marcel Ciolacu mentioned “a political alliance or an electoral alliance” which also implies joint candidates. “One of the solutions is an electoral alliance or a political alliance, which will give Romania stability”, declared the PSD leader, bringing as an argument “the defense of Romania from extremism”.
Political sources revealed in advance today the possibility of merging of local and EP elections on June 9, despite the Social Democrats’ discontent.
Sources from the PSD also claimed that, if it is agreed on a single merger, of the MEPs with the local ones, then each party will go with its own presidential candidate at polls. If it will be decided to merge the parliamentary elections with one of the two rounds of the presidential elections, then the PSD wants a single candidate, supported by both parties of the Coalition. Moreover, sources claim that presidential elections will be held earlier, possibly in September.
Talks about merging the elections started more than a month ago. At one point they had advanced to the point of dividing the candidacies at the level of the county seat town halls.
But a week ago, PSD came up with a new request that conditioned the understanding of combining the local elections with the European parliamentary elections: the liberals’ support for presidential candidate Marcel Ciolacu. The liberals refused, and the negotiations were suspended. During the weekend, there were unofficial discussions in a limited framework between Marcel Ciolacu, Nicolae Ciucă and Klaus Iohannis and the discussions resumed.
The claimed opinion poll
The poll claimed by PSD and PNL in their move to merge elections is an Avangarde survey, according to which 53% of Romanians want this merger. The survey was conducted on February 19 and 20.
53% of respondents to the Avangarde survey answered Yes to the question “Do you personally agree that the European Parliament elections should be merged with the local elections?”, the survey data show. 35% were against the merger and 12% had no opinion or did not answer.
The same survey also shows that the PSD remains at the top of the ranking with 31% of the votes in the European Parliament elections, the PNL would take 20%, followed by the AUR with 18% and the United Right Alliance, with 15%.
The opposition strongly criticizes the merger of elections
USR, PMP and Forța Dreptei, reunited within the United Right Alliance, slammed PSD and PNL’s intention to merge the European parliamentary elections with the local ones, announcing that they will attack in court, at the CCR or at the People’s Advocate any legislative initiative in this sense by the Coalition.
“The United Right will oppose and beat the United Left. It is a moment when we must gather for this common cause”, said USR leader, Cătălin Drula, commenting that the Coalition’s approach is not constitutional, legal and moral.
“This savage attack on democracy outrages us. PSD and PNL call their destinies for eternity, not for the public interest, but out of fear,” said in his turn the PMP leader, Eugen Tomac.
Ludovic Orban, the president of Forța Dreptei, warned the Minister of Justice not to sign the normative acts regarding the merging of elections, this being, in his opinion, unconstitutional.
BS on a massive scale. What is there to research? 100 mil Euro each election costs’ This is the price to build a hospital.