Victor Ponta returned to the presidential competition 10 years after the defeat suffered in front of Klaus Iohannis. Then he was a PSD candidate, today he is independent. Victor Ponta’s candidacy strikes exactly in the interests of the party he was led. Ponta breaks from the votes of Crin Antonescu and, if he becomes president, he will force Marcel Ciolacu to resign. Who will premier designate? How much will he manage to transfer from Călin Georgescu? The “truth” presents all the implications of Victor Ponta’s candidacy.
Ponta could send Nicușor Dan to the end to Crin Antonescu’s detriment Photo Inquam
Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, elected deputy on the PSD lists at the December parliamentary elections, entered the presidential race being dissatisfied with the decision of the ruling coalition to support Crin Antonescu for the Cotroceni Palace.
Victor Ponta and Crin Antonescu were first allies: in 2011 they formed USL, the first alliance between PSD and PNL. But they also broke the friend in the spring of 2014. The reason? Crin Antonescu insisted that the then mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, to become a deputy prime minister in the PSD-PNL government, but Prime Minister Ponta refused. Later, the two accused each other of betrayal. At the end of 2014, Klaus Iohannis defeated Victor Ponta in the presidential elections. Crin Antonescu had disappeared from the political scene.
10 years later, Victor Ponta and Crin Antonescu are fighting for the armchair left by Klaus Iohannis, forced by the sovereign parties to resign. Crin Antonescu is supported by three political formations, PSD, PNL and UDMR, which gathers over 90% of the mayors in Romania. Instead, Victor Ponta is applying as an independent. What is it based on?
First of all, the PSD mayors are dissatisfied that, for the first time in history, the party has no own candidate for presidential elections. Several PSD elected officials have promised Ponta that they will shoot for him in the campaign, sources from the party leadership for “Adevărul” say. Instead, Marcel Ciolacu told the local leaders that Ponta does nothing but break from Crin Antonescu’s votes and, indirectly, help Nicușor Dan, shoulder to shoulder with Antonescu in the fight for the presidential final.
Secondly, Victor Ponta will break a part of the sovereign voters, who, in the absence of Călin Georgescu, do not accept the solution of George Simion. In fact, Ponta publicly promised that, once the President of Romania, he will close all the criminal files that concern Georgescu. Legally, the head of state cannot intervene in the act of justice, but the informal power of the president often exceeds the letter of the Constitution. In addition, Victor Ponta sent to the sovereign voters that he was considering appointing the premier Călin Georgescu, if he will become president. Although he is criminally investigated and was disqualified by the RCC from the competition for Cotroceni, Călin Georgescu can hold the position of prime minister, until a final decision of the court.
Ponta overturns Ciolacu
If he was elected president, Victor Ponta has announced that he will force the dismissal of the government, although Marcel Ciolacu offered an eligible place on the PSD lists in the December parliamentary elections. Ponta intends to change Marcel Ciolacu, but to keep PSD in government, either with Călin Georgescu at the forefront of the executive, or with another prime minister from the PSD, who will become the president of the party at the post-Ciolacu era. “If Ponta arrives president will want all his power. He will impose the prime minister, he will do the majority and he will also determine the future leader of the PSD. It is clear that Ponta’s choice will mean the end of Ciolacu and the Government, and at the party.”says one of the PSD vice -presidents for “Adevărul”.
Victor Ponta is inclined to form a parliamentary majority composed of PSD and gold, to reconcile both electorates to which are addressed, the sources quoted say. Ponta calculates that he can enter the second round with George Simion. In this case, he would go favorite, because the PSD would immediately pass behind him with some of the sovereign voters, those who reject Simion.
If he misses the presidential final, Ponta does not lose much. He will carry his mandate as a parliamentarian until December 2028. Even if he gets only a few percent, Ponta can decisively confuse Crin Antonescu on the way to Cotroceni Palace. The stakes of Victor Ponta’s candidacy are even greater as Crin Antonescu and Nicușor Dan are separated only by the margin of error of opinion polls. Therefore, every extra vote that Victor Ponta receives from the PSD electorate means a minus vote for Crin Antonescu. Paradoxically, Ponta could send Nicușor Dan to the final to Crin Antonescu.
