Nicușor Dan announces his candidacy as an independent for the presidency

Ex-Education minister Daniel Funeriu also voiced intention to run for President.

By Romania Journal Last updated Dec 16, 2024

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Bucharest general mayor, Nicușor Dan has announced his candidacy for the Romanian Presidency as an independent, in a press statement at the Bucharest City Hall’s HQs this evening.

The mayor of the Romanian Capital City announced his candidacy for the 2025 presidential elections on Monday evening, saying that Romania is in its most difficult moment since the Revolution: “There will be a tough fight between those who defend the public interest and those who defend the interests of the gang.” He also said that he will run independently and that he is open to discussions with pro-European parties to support his candidacy.

“We are in a moment of balance. The most difficult since the Revolution. Romania has conveyed that it can no longer be done. That too much has been lied to, that politicians are pretending to solve their problems. A fundamental change is needed in the way the state responds to the needs of citizens. I intend to run for the presidential elections in 2025 There are three big problems. The first – corruption and the functioning of institutions.

There will be a tough fight between those who defend the public interest and those who defend the gang interest.

The president must master administrative mechanisms and understand legal mechanisms very well. The second problem: Romania does not have a direction today.

There are studies, strategies, but they clash or are very poorly adapted to reality. Romania has very important resources of competence in both the public and private sectors that the Romanian state has not accessed up to this point.

This is the role of the president, who is not involved in the daily role of governance. It is to identify these competencies and organize them so that together they can propose the most appropriate public policies for Romania’s problems.

The third problem: Romania is divided into socio-cultural categories in opposition to each other. I arrived here because their concerns were not understood by the rulers and the political class. Why am I coming up with this proposal when the people of Bucharest gave me their trust in the local elections and the referendum? Because Bucharesters cannot live well in Bucharest if Romania is not doing well. I will run as an independent candidate. I am open to discussions with pro-European parties to support this candidacy. We need a president who will ensure that the pro-reform direction that the parties are enunciating these days is truly followed in government activity. I am convinced that Romanian society will take advantage of this unexpected moment of reflection and will find the resources within its integrity to move forward, to change what needs to be changed,” Nicusor Dan pointed out.

Dan announced he had informed the four parties of his intention to run for Presidency.

“It is an analysis that will take time. It is a discussion that is being held in parallel with the negotiations for the formation of the government, the priority of the parties is the formation of the government. Today I came before the society and the pro-Western parties and made a proposal. I presented a hypothesis that seems to me the most appropriate. There are many scenarios and calculations, but I will not go into them now. It is a fundamental change in people’s expectations, which was manifested in the vote two and four weeks ago. If in the previous elections, the message of the people was that they would choose the least bad option, now the message was that this is no longer possible. I believe that this is the way in which I can help solve society’s problems. We will have an electoral campaign and I expect people to inform themselves, to see the different solutions that are proposed and for us as a society to choose what is best. There will be enough time for people to see the proposals of all competitors. It is absolutely legitimate for the four parties trying to form the coalition to be interested in other topics. It is possible that there will be interference in the discussions they are having. I am not and do not want to be involved in the negotiations on the government side,” he concluded.

His candidacy has been circulating in the public space even though, declaratively, he has said several times that he will serve two or even three terms at the Capital City Hall.

Several NGOs, activists and politicians have asked Nicușor Dan to run, considering that he won the local elections in Bucharest with 46% of the votes, and the mayor of the capital is the most voted person in Romania after the president.

Nicușor Dan has repeatedly stated that he needs two or even three terms at the City Hall of the Capital to carry out his development plans. The model of a possible candidacy as an independent for the presidency would follow the model of the candidacy for the City Hall of the Capital, where Nicușor Dan also presented himself as an independent. Later, he benefited from the support of some parties (USR, PNL) and also obtained a majority to support him in the General Council.

In the case where he runs for president and wins, new elections for the Capital City Hall should be organized.

Cristian Ghinea, one of the USR leaders, stated on Monday that the party he is part of has a candidate who collected over 1.7 million votes in the presidential elections and he sees no reason why Elena Lasconi could be replaced.

“I saw that this appeared in the sources, from the USR’s point of view, we have a candidate, we have 1.7 million people who voted for Elena Lasconi, I don’t see why we would change this, but it doesn’t depend on me. USR is a democratic party. At this moment, we have a USR Congress that made a decision that Elena Lasconi is the presidential candidate and I personally don’t see why we would change this, given that it was a successful candidacy,” said Ghinea, asked about the scenario of supporting Nicuşor Dan as the coalition’s sole candidate for the presidential elections.

Bucharest MP Claudiu Năsui said on Monday that there had been no discussions within the USR about a future presidential candidate. “We had absolutely no discussion about the presidential candidate today. Our only or biggest problem is what will happen next year with the budget and, in principle, the taxes that Romanians will have to pay, whether they will increase or not, that is the only red line,” said Claudiu Năsui.

Vlad Gheorghe is the first person to publicly ask Nicuşor Dan to run for president, immediately after the cancellation of the elections. Previously, USR First Vice President Dominic Fritz asked pro-European parties to support Elena Lasconi when the presidential elections resume following the CCR’s decision to cancel the first round of the presidential elections.

Daniel Funeriu also expressed intention to run

Daniel Funeriu, who has also shown interest in running for the presidency of Romania, reacted after G4Media published information on Monday that Nicușor Dan would announce his candidacy for the presidency and urged the Mayor of the Capital to enter the race to show “what Romanian society produces, what produces that Romania that we feel we have and love, but we do not feel present at the top of the state.”

“The news from sources (G4media) regarding a new candidacy as an independent also reached me. I encourage Nicușor Dan to run for the presidency as well. This way we will show what Romanian society produces, what produces that Romania that we feel we have and love, but we do not feel present at the top of the state. The essence of the future is to have a well-governed country, which will have worthy people at its head, respectable at home and in the world, and with high degrees in their pockets. Nicușor, let’s show them what we can do for Romania!”, Daniel Funeriu posted on Facebook.

Daniel Funeriu was mentioned on Tuesday by UDMR president Kelemen Hunor among possible independent candidates to be supported by a pro-European coalition in the race for Cotroceni Palace. Later, on Thursday, the former Minister of Education expressed his interest in running.

“Yes, I want to run for the Presidency of Romania,” Funeriu said in a program broadcast by Gândul.

The former minister stated that, after the situation in the presidential elections, “political parties today are in a situation where they have to look for a candidate.” “We have not had negotiations with PSD,” Funeriu said.

UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor said on Tuesday, in an intervention on Digi24, that a possible joint candidate of the future governing coalition in the 2025 presidential elections should not be one of the presidents of the parties that make up the coalition. At the same time, he also spoke out in favor of a rapid organization of the presidential election.

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1 Comment

Panagiotis Spyridis says 7 months ago

Handsome rider on a white horse!
OK, all good in the statement and he has proven himself on a local basis. But… 1) stay away from the NGO’s and 2) say something about the violation and rape of Democracy. You can not stay in Europe with Autocratic measures based on no proof whatsoever for cancelling any election.