The head of the PSD, Marcel Ciolacu, indirectly asked Cristian Popescu Piedone to withdraw and support Gabriela Firea for the position of mayor of the Capital.
PHOTO Inquam
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu launched an appeal to the mayor of Sector 5, Cristian Popescu Piedone, “to give up pride“, stating that the former general mayor Gabriela Firea is the best option for the Capital City Hall.
“I'm calling a friend of mine, a friend of my brother's, an acquaintance of over 30 years, Cristian Popescu Piedone. I think that in life we must sit down at the table, not have pride and succeed in building what is best for Bucharest. The experience, determination, professionalism that Gabriela Firea showed when she was mayor of the Capital confirms that she is the best candidate at the moment for the chair of general mayor“, Marcel Ciolacu said during a party event.
Negotiations with Pedestrians
Later, Ciolacu came with clarifications and claimed that he would not allow himself to ask Piedone to withdraw from the race for the Capital City Hall, but indicated that his place is as “mayor, further, in Sector 5″. Asked about the party's negotiations with Piedone, Ciolacu stated: “Each of us decides what we have to do. I create opportunities for my son, because that's my purpose as a father. The decision belongs to my son”thus referring to the already submitted candidacy for the District 5 City Hall of Piedone's son, Vlad Popescu Piedone.
According to Europa FM sources, Adrian Vigheciu, the PSD candidate supported by the Coalition for Sector 5, would no longer submit his candidacy, thus leaving the way open for the support of Piedone or his son.
For his part, the mayor of Sector 5 publicly accused a PSD-PNL board in order to ensure Nicușor Dan a new mandate. In a message on Facebook, Piedone also published a photo of the current mayor of the Capital leaving the Cotroceni Palace, claiming that the Coalition parties have “Bucharest pledged for another four years”. However, it is not excluded that Piedone will negotiate his withdrawal.
Piedone's withdrawal, an advantage for Firea
Moreover, after announcing his candidacy, Piedone said: “We would not have entered the electoral race if Gabriela Firea was the PSD candidate“.
The statement of the mayor from Sector 5 was also invoked by Gabriela Firea, who recalled that she won the Capital City Hall in 2016 with his support. “I would answer you by quoting him: “If Gabriela Firea runs, I will run for District 5.” (…) Here I am, running for office”, said the PSD representative.
PSD-PUSL history
The mayor of Sector 5, Cristian Popescu Piedone, is the executive president of PUSL, founded by Dan Voiculescu, a formation that could, moreover, continue to negotiate places on the PSD lists for the parliamentary elections.
The party led by Piedone, PUSL, is also currently represented on the list of the PSD-PNL alliance for MEPs by the MEP Maria Grapini, who occupies the 10th place. PUSL also has deputies entered on the PSD lists in the 2020 elections, when Marcel Ciolacu refused an alliance in order not to reduce the number of parliamentarians of the formation in eligible seats, but accepted the inclusion of a few members, so that the relations with the party founded by Dan Voiculescu, the patron of the Intact group, remain open. The elected PUSL are old PSD members co-opted by Voiculescu's party. Meanwhile, PUSL remained in the Chamber of Deputies with three members following the departure in 2023 of Loredana Predescu to AUR. The founder of PUSL, Dan Voiculescu, was also involved in the USL (Social-Liberal Union) alliance.
PNL, call for political cohesion
Liberals were also present at the event where Gabriela Firea and Marcel Ciolacu sent their messages to Piedone, the submission of Daniel Bǎluță's candidacy, the alliance for the sectors being still valid. Among them was the spokesperson of the formation, Ionuţ Stroe.
The PNL representative claimed that in the view of the liberals the first “ingredient” to achieve a “level of local public administration elites” is cohesion: “More than any kind of pride, political interest or ideology, a very good and close collaboration is needed in order to have concrete results and for our work to have a positive impact in the lives of the people we claim to lead and who have invested trust in we”.
