Grigore Pop Elecheș, professor of political science at the titrate Princeton University, conducted a study on the presidential elections in Romania. He shared the conclusions drawn in an analysis for “Adevărul”, and one of the basic conclusions was that the sovereign parties were not as united as they were anticipated.
George Simion and Diana Şoșoaca are in open war. Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
The Romanian teacher was based on his studies on a survey that he did in collaboration with the multinational company Pollfish. From this poll, to which he worked personally, he learned how and why the Romanians voted in a certain way in the 2nd round of the presidential elections compared to the parliamentary elections of 2024. And also through this study he tried to clarify a series of customs and ideas of the Romanians.
Elena Lasconi’s fans did not forgive Nicușor Dan
“A few interesting things have been highlighted, in my opinion. A first aspect, as it can be seen, in the first graph, is how to vote in round 1 compared to the tour 2. And of course, those who voted George Simion in the first round and in the second, but about 10%. Antonescu passed in round 2 by the side of Nicușor Dancompared to those who voted for Elena Lasconi in the first round. This is interesting, however, there is a core from the people of Elena Lasconi who practically did not forgive Nicușor Dan ”says Elecheș.
Equally interesting is the fact that although in general Victor Ponta had a conservative electoral, most of his voters passed on the side of Nicușor Dan, in round 2.
Ponta’s voters put George Simion’s obstacle
“Another interesting aspect is that of Ponta’s voters not even a third passed on George Simion. It’s true, and fewer chose to vote in round 2 with Nicușor Dan, but in half they did not vote on Simion. What is interesting, but especially shows that the voters of the Conservatives are not at all,” I am not at all.says the Romanian teacher.
Grigore Pop Elecheș. Photo: personal archive
A second aspect of his study puts face to face the results of a survey in which he compares the results from the parliamentary elections that took place in 2024 with those in the 2nd Tour of the Presidents. And the idea that the sovereign electorate is divided is also supported by this second part of the analysis.
The major malfunction of the sovereign camp
“Somewhere, in fact, it seems to me more interesting than the first than the first. In the sense that, of course, the voters of the sovereign parties went to George Simion, but there is a fairly clear difference between them. Those who voted in 2024 with gold now voted George Simion. But, here comes the interesting part, I can only go to Simion. They, 40%, refused to put the stamp on the name of George Simion, they did not feel represented by him”, Says Grigore Pop Elecheș.
There are also some explanations, and one of them is related to the very bad relationship between Diana Şoșoaca, the head of SOS, and George Simion and Gold.
“Diana Şoşoaca’s supporters were many of them angry at George Simion. Many still live with the feeling that Diana Şoșoaca was set aside and was not allowed to run to make room for George Simion.”says the Romanian teacher.
And that’s not all. He also noted that almost 20% of Diana Şoșoaca voters passed on Nicușor Dan. Nor did the voters go 100% on Simion’s hand.
“Almost 20% of the people of Şoșoaca preferred Nicușor Dan to George Simion, and 16% were not determined to support the gold leader or they avoided saying what they decided. Finally, 6% did not vote, so these people rejected Simion.”explains Elecheș.
Călin Georgescu’s authority, under the question mark
Even the sovereigns from PO, a party created to support George Simion, did not go entirely to the head of the Gold. Although Calin Georgescu himself asked his fans to vote for George Simion, only more than half of them (57%) listened to him.
“It is also interesting that the people from Pot did not mobilized very much, although Georgescu himself had asked them to do so. And a part even voted Nicușor Dan, that is, they did exactly to what Călin Georgescu had asked. And almost a third of them either did not show up in the vote 2, or they did not want to say what they did.”Grigore Pop Elecheș also notes.
Otherwise, things were about those who voted for USR parliamentary, UDMR, PNL and PSD.
“Almost 90% of the users have now walked with Nicușor Dan, and almost as many of those who voted with UDMR were on Dan. And over 75% of the liberals did the same. Even the pessimists, although many said they would vote with George Simion, actually voted with Nicușor Dan. The sovereigns looked somehow divided.considers Elecheș.
The conclusion is clear, the explanations are multiple. First of all, the misunderstandings between Diana Şoșoaca and George Simion, but also some of the golden breast.
“I was telling Diana Şoșoaca and her bad relationships with George Simion, but there is also the schism in the heart of gold, that is, the unexpected departure of Claudiu Târgiu. Looking at Pot, it is not excluded that Anamaria Gavrilă will have her own amyisses and to refuse to subordinate to George. He says Gavrilă is young and has no great experience in politics, but that does not make her less ambitious.”, Is the basic idea of Professor Grigore Pop Elecheș.
He went on and wanted to find out to what extent George Simion’s voters sympathize with certain historical characters considered negative. It is about the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, respectively Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder and leader of the extreme-right organization the Legionary Movement of the Inteberlic period.
“The first illustrates the probability of voting for Simion in round 2 for those who like Ceausescu very much (17% of the sample) and for those who do not like (36%). The difference is very large and suggests that the Ceausist nostalgia helped Simion. But on the other hand, the fact that in the end are more than the one who hates Ceaușescu. capped in the end Simion”, Says the teacher.
“The second graph shows the same idea vis-à-vis about Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. Again we see clear differences-those with legionary sympathies prefer Simion, but they are still very few (2%) compared to those who do not like Codreanu.”concludes Grigore Pop Elecheș.
