The first results of the partial elections in Bucharest tempered the enthusiasm of the PSD candidate, Daniel Băluță, who declared after the vote that “from tomorrow we can build the Bucharest we want”. Throughout the entire day on Sunday, the atmosphere at the headquarters in Kiseleff betrayed other expectations.
The announcement that Daniel Băluță came in 2nd place, according to the first exit poll results on Sunday, was met with silence. The PSD candidate kept a smile on his face when Ciprian Ciucu was presented as the “future mayor of the Capital”.
The social democrats gathered around the candidate waited patiently for the “new general mayor” to finish his speech. Some more attentive than others, aware of all the cameras pointing at them, turned their gaze to the screen announcing the exit poll results. Although the PSD leaders’ gestures admitted defeat, the candidate’s statements said otherwise: “Regarding the result of the exit poll, it is inconclusive, the counting of votes is essential. I ask all my colleagues in the polling stations to be extremely careful. I call on all those who have impure thoughts to forget them. We will supervise the counting of votes until the last second.”
The missing scene from the PSD headquarters
In the first part of the day, it was quiet at the PSD headquarters in Kiseleff, but the members of the formation did not stop urging the vote. The candidate reached the last hour of voting. He entered through the back door, away from the prying eyes of the media.
The first to make statements after voting was the party leader Sorin Grindeanu. He was accompanied by the first vice-presidents Victor Negrescu and Bogdan Ivan, as well as the minister general secretary Claudiu Manda.
One thing is certain, the expectations from the polls, which always placed the PSD candidate in first place, were not reflected in the atmosphere at the PSD headquarters, where the stage set a year ago was also missing, both in the presidential elections on November 24 and in the parliamentary elections on December 1.
The party leaders waited for the results in the heat this time, on the 1st floor. A microphone was also placed for questions, but Daniel Băluță did not answer them.
A smaller victory
The by-elections however brought a smaller victory for the PSD, at least for former Prime Minister and PSD president Marcel Ciolacu, who was able to enjoy the first results at 21.00 after a series of setbacks over the past year, including the November 24 presidential race. If after 21.00, there was a deafening silence at the headquarters in Kiseleff, in Buzău the atmosphere was one of party, with music and good cheer.
But all the attention of the evening was focused on the Capital City Hall, where PSD recorded its third major defeat within a year – after two rounds of presidential elections in which it failed to even reach the second round – and the new president of the party was starting his mandate with a first electoral failure.
Sorin Grindeanu remained “at the helm” until late at night, while the PSD candidate for the Capital City Hall left the office in Kiseleff just 30 minutes after the exit poll results were announced at 9:00 p.m.
