Politicians from the most important parties have announced their candidacies for the presidential elections on November 24, 2024 (first round), but among those considered favorites to advance to the second round of voting, from December 8, 2024, only Mircea Geoană is still expected to officially enter the competition.
Mircea Geoană. Photo: Facebook.
Mircea Geoană postponed the launch of his candidacy for the presidential elections, although in recent weeks he was on a national tour and outside the country, in which he promoted himself alongside his book: “Battle for the future of Romania. The thoughts of a Romanian at the top of NATO”.
Also in the last two weeks, although he had not officially entered the electoral competition, Mircea Geoană was presented, in an opinion poll conducted by INSCOP, as the favorite to enter the second round of the presidential elections.
He would get a score of over 20 percent, in the voters’ preferences, the study showed, surpassing Marcel Ciolacu and Elena Lasconi by a few percentage points.
Also, another recent poll commissioned by the PNL, the results of which were published the other day, places PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu in first place in the presidential race, with 25 percent of the votes, followed by Nicolae Ciucă (PNL ) with 16 percent and Mircea Geoană with 14 percent.
Mircea Geoană, decorated on the last day at NATO
On September 3, 2024, Mircea Geoană notified the Secretary General of NATO that he will leave the position of Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO), on September 10, 2024, after almost five years in the leadership of NATO.
Tuesday was Mircea Geoană’s last day at NATO. His mandate ended with a ceremony held in Brussels, in which he was decorated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the NATO Order of Meritorious Service in recognition of his outstanding services to the North Atlantic Alliance.
“I know I have made many of you proud to have held this position for the past five years. I am proud of you: our young men, our young women, our diplomats, our soldiers, all those who work here in NATO. We are a respected and influential nation in NATO and I am extremely proud to have worked together. I want to ask you to bring this culture of a professional Romania to the culture at home”declared, on Tuesday, September 10, Mircea Geoană, at the ceremony on his last day at NATO.
The independence of Mircea Geoană, reason for controversies
With his return to Romania, Mircea Geoană is expected to officially announce his candidacy for the presidential elections of November 24, 2024.
So far, he has not associated himself with any political party to support him in the electoral race. It is presented as “independent”, which brings both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it can attract votes from supporters of several political parties and undecided Romanians.
On the other hand, he will not be the only independent candidate in the presidential elections. Recently, former ministers Cristian Diaconescu and Ana Birchall also launched their candidacies as independents.
In order to register her candidacy with the Central Electoral Bureau, Geoana will have to submit a list of at least 200,000 supporting signatures, which is more difficult for those who do not benefit from the support of parties. It will also not have representatives in polling station offices.
The presentation as an independent of the former Deputy General Secretary of NATO was criticized by his former party colleague, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (PSD).
“Mr. Geoana is running, it’s obvious. What I still don’t understand is the independence thing. I will go to the party to tell them that I am independent from tomorrow. This is in the area of hypocrisy. All your life you were president of the PSD, you were put in positions by the PSD, suddenly you are independent, you formed your party, you ran with your party”declared the president of the Social Democratic Party, on Romania TV.
Political analyst Ovidiu Voicu declared, for Free Europe, that Mircea Geoană can no longer give up the independence he is calling for.
“If he joins a party and runs on behalf of a party, no matter what that party is, he will definitely lose. Geoana has two great assets: the position of an independent, which the public likes, and the image of a specialist, compared to the others”, declared the political analyst, quoted by Free Europe.
Mircea Geoană “he never denied his ties to the PSD and the old electorate”added analyst Ovidiu Voicu.
Other publications have shown that Mircea Geoană will benefit from the support of some political formations. He was recently associated with the DREPT (Rights and Respect in Europe for All) party, founded in 2023 and in which several MPs have recently joined.
On Monday, September 2, ten deputies submitted to the General Secretariat of the Chamber of Deputies an information declaring their membership of the DREPT Party, led by Alexandru Gîdiuță (ex-USR), G4 Media reported.
The party consists of four deputies elected on USR lists, three who belonged to AUR, two former liberals and one former representative of UDMR.
