Political analysts believe that the boycott announced by Călin Georgescu for the elections of December 7 is part of a calculated plan, built “per natural person”, intended, most likely, to prepare his return to political life.
PHOTO Inquam / Octav Ganea
Sociologist Remus Ștefureac, director of Inscop, claims for “Adevărul” that the former presidential candidate does not enjoy a large electorate in the Capital. Moreover, the electorate of the so-called sovereignist parties is also less numerous here.
“In Bucharest, the electorate is much more diversified. Mr. Georgescu obtained significantly lower scores in Bucharest than in rural areas, in small towns. Therefore, the traction of his rule in Bucharest is not so great, but that does not mean that he cannot cause a part of the voters not to come to vote. But there will probably be voters from this pool of sympathizers of his rule”. shows the sociologist.
One thing is certain, however. According to the sociologist, the partial elections on December 7 bring a fragmentation both between the sovereignist parties and between the pro-European parties. After the delimitation of AUR by Călin Georgescu, POT and the party led by George Simion nominated different candidates.
“Beyond what we see, there can be other types of discussions and negotiations. It is certain that such a kind of fragmentation appears and now at least the parties, let’s say with a pro-democratic, pro-European profile, are not exempt from fragmentation at all. On the contrary, they are ultra-fragmented, because we see a very large number of candidates. As is natural, each party should have its own candidate in some elections aimed at the competition for the Capital City Hall. But if we divide, let’s say, which is not necessarily correct, but if we were to divide between two large categories, in the end both are equally fragmented”, Remus Ștefureac also points out.
He wants to continue to matter. Maybe he also has ambitions, at some point – George Jiglău, political scientist
He wants to continue to matter
Political scientist George Jiglău explains for “Adevărul” that this contradiction regarding the election in the Capital between the former presidential candidate and the AUR party is not surprising: “There are several things here. First of all, Georgescu had announced to us that he was retiring and that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with political and public life. It was that moment of retirement, which we took very seriously, but he did not retire at any time. He had other outings, maybe less often than before, but it seems that, although he told us that he was retiring, he is not exactly retired. He wants to continue to matter. Perhaps he also has ambitions, at a given moment.
After that, in relation to the break that we see, it never seemed to me that there was a big glue there, so to speak of a break. It was a conjuncture relationship between AUR and Georgescu. AUR somehow seemed forced by the elections of November 24 last year, to enter as a kind of wagon in the train pulled by Georgescu, because that was the fashion. No one could afford to give up on him.
He is somehow consistent with himself, that is, if he does not recognize the cancellation of the December elections, it is somewhat natural that he does not recognize anything that follows from this. His problem, however, is that he had a moment when he did not follow this line, when he could have gone and maybe also pulled AUR in this direction, to renounce everything that follows from the annulment of last year’s elections, namely the moment when he showed up with Simion to vote in the May elections. The moment you go and vote in those elections, which exist because the ones in December were cancelled, practically cancels this coherence”.
Thus, the behavior of the former candidate is a changeable one, as it is possible that he will try to remain relevant until the next presidential elections, reacting according to his own interest.
“If it wasn’t for that moment in May, I would have said all the way that he’s being consistent with himself, but because it was that moment in May, what he’s doing now seems like a contradiction. But from the outside, his positioning seems like someone who’s still frustrated by what happened to him and doesn’t want to back down in any way. He’s probably hoping that at some point he’ll get out of trouble with the justice system and that at some point he’ll be back on a white horse literally and figuratively to take revenge in a way for what happened last year. (…) He has a game of his own. He built this whole infrastructure on the individual.” explains political scientist George Jiglău.
Georgescu’s announcement
The candidate supported in the past by both AUR and POT for the presidency of Romania, Călin Georgescu, surprised by launching a call for the boycott of the elections in the Capital, organized on December 7. Georgescu urged his electorate “to think twice before validating a farce organized under the guise of good”.
As in the case of AUR, Călin Georgescu was expected to announce his support for Anca Alexandrescu, an independent candidate in the elections for mayor of Bucharest, and to legitimize her candidacy in front of his electorate. However, this did not happen, although he claimed in August that he would support her if she ran, and the TV moderator remained one of his main supporters over time.
Anca Alexandrescu reacted by saying that “Mr. Georgescu’s message last night must be read not as a one-time reaction, as everyone hastened to do, but as an x-ray of a long chain of abuses that originates in the annulment of the December 6 elections.”
The former president changed his opinion in several respects. After the rejection of his candidacy in the spring elections, Călin Georgescu sent his supporters a message to support democracy: “After everything that happened today, at the Constitutional Court, moreover in the last months, I tell you that I will remain firm in my signal for freedom, democracy, peace and dignity. If you want to support anyone by signing a new candidacy list, please do it as your conscience dictates. It seems that in these moments democracy and freedom are taking their last breath and that is why they need more than ever to show democratically and peacefully that our choice matters until the last moment”.
Now, the call for a boycott launched by Călin Georgescu is attacked by AUR itself, which urges the electorate to vote. “To those who ask us to hold a rally and bring down the regime, I tell them that the only chance for the next three years is for the Government to fall in Bucharest and Buzău through the massive vote of the citizens”said George Simion in a joint press conference with the party’s candidate for the Capital City Hall, Anca Alexandrescu.
Partial elections will be organized in 12 localities in the country for mayors, but also in Buzău county, where the former head of the PSD Marcel Ciolacu is running for the headship of the County Council.
