PSD and PNL Discuss Merging European with Local Elections

By Alina Grigoras Last updated Feb 6, 2024

Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.

The PSD and PNL leaders would have agreed to combine the local elections with the European parliamentary elections and organize them in June, political sources told Europa Libera. Local elections were usually held in September.

Also, the debates tackled the possibility of merging other two elections: the first round of presidential election with the general parliamentary election.

Other liberal sources say, however, that the social democrats are pushing for the organization of the parliamentary elections and the second round of the presidential elections on the same day, on the grounds that, if he were to run for Cotroceni, Marcel Ciolacu would have an advantage. However, Liberals are reluctant to these versions.

According to the cited sources, PSD and PNL will not participate on joint lists in the local or parliamentary elections, but each party will have candidates in the vast majority of cases for the positions they already hold, the rest where USR or PMP have public positions will be divided and candidate either PSD or PNL depending on the specific negotiations.

At the same time, the presidential candidate will be determined after the polls, after the June 9 elections, and the prime minister will be given by the party that will not hold the candidacy for the position of President of Romania.

A final, official decision will be taken on Thursday, at the meeting of the Coalition, according to the quoted political sources.

Until 2004, when the mandate of the president of Romania was four years, the parliamentary elections were organized together with the first round of the presidential elections. After 2005, the law entered into force whereby the mandate of the president is 5 years and the two types of elections have never overlapped.

USR opposition party has slammed though the ruling parties’ talks and intentions to merge elections.

“Romanians are overwhelmed by price increases, tax increases, they go to the streets to demand their rights, but their concern (of the parties in the coalition – n.r.) is how to cheat the democratic rules and fix the elections as they see fit“, the president of the Union Save Romania, Cătălin Drula told mass media.

He spoke of “elections manipulated behind closed doors” by President Klaus Iohannis, PSD President, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and PNL President Nicolae Ciucă “in a desperate attempt to stay in power.”

For the USR leader, understanding the coalition parties is “a deliberate act” directed against the opposition parties.

“This is the real stake: they imagine that they will make voting difficult for Romanians and affect our electoral score. I have bad news for them. No matter how many elections they combine, the United Right Alliance will win the elections. We have the best people for all election lines. We have already demonstrated that it is possible in another way, from the government and the town halls. We are ready to build modern Romania and put an end to this government of thievery and high taxes”, concluded the USR leader

DONATE: Support our work

In an ever changing and challenging world, the media is constantly struggling to resist. Romania Journal makes no exception. We’ve been informing you, our readers, for almost 10 years, as extensively as we can, but, as we reject any state funding and private advertising is scarce, we need your help to keep on going.
So, if you enjoy our work, you can contribute to endorse the Romania Journal team. Any amount is welcome, no strings attached. Choose to join with one of the following options:

Donate with PayPal

Donate by Bank Wire

Black Zonure SRL
UniCredit Bank. Swift: BACXROBU
RON: RO84 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1000
EURO: RO57 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1001
USD: RO30 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1002