Cătălin Drula, the USR candidate for the Capital City Hall, made a public proposal to Ana Ciceală, the surprise counter-candidate in the polls: to team up at PMB. Ana Ciceală is running on behalf of SENS, a popular party among young people, and the last poll published put her at 7% voting intention. Although no response has come from it so far, the proposal has sparked a lot of reactions on the Internet.
“I would like to work together in the City Hall and if you want to deal with this area, with young people, with social affairs, it would be a partnership. The rest of the discussions are from the private area, (…) I would like to make a partnership and it is an outstretched hand”said Cătălin Drula during an interview with RFI Romania.
He added that he knows the program of the SENS candidate and that their projects for the Capital are similar.
“I respect the right of anyone to run. In fact, from Ana Ciceăla’s program, many things can be found in our program. We have a chapter in our program about affordable housing, which for me is very important, young people must be able to afford an apartment in this city, and we have a series of very concrete measures, starting with a reorganization of the Real Estate Fund Administration, which has thousands of apartments in the city, which at the moment are given to party files on non-transparent criteria, many. It’s true, there are also social cases and where there are social cases, they remain, but we want to do a reorganization and put them on this market for young people, at reasonable rents, for a while, say, for five years, after which we help them with some loans with interest subsidized by the City Hall. Similarly, in the development area, I want to urgently complete the General Urban Plan, to build, we need new housing stock. (…) Other policies, on the area of alternative public transport, on the green area, all these are common in the program that Ana Ciceală also has”.
Asked by the moderator if this is how he asks Ana Ciceăla to withdraw from the race, Cătălin Drula answered: “I can’t afford to ask this of anyone, but I’d like to have a partnership and it’s an outstretched hand.”
The reactions of those who are going to vote
The topic was also debated on the Reddit platform.
“If it was rational, this should have been Ciceala’s real objective. Won will never win“, someone wrote.
Others said that they do not understand the fragmentation of parties with similar visions, in the context in which Ana Ciceală was also part of USR.
“I have never understood why there are USR and four or five smaller USRs. I have no expectations from the old politicians. They are running for their life after the hammer. But it seems that the new politicians are doing the same things. They all want to be party presidents, they all want to be No. 1. Nobody wants to be a team man anymore. USR, SENS, RIGHT, REFER, PLUS, to a large extent, are guided by the same principles. Well, and can’t they resolve their divergent views so that there is only one party that actually matters?” one wrote.
The answer from another user was: “Because USR from the beginning was an amalgam of people with various ideas and ideologies. For the same reason, they split up and founded various parties, which is not bad at all, in my opinion. The USR of today is not the same USR of 10 years ago”.
Many commented that Ana Ciceăla should not retire and condemned the expression of Cătălin Drula:
“Yes, that you jump up with happiness when someone offers you “an outstretched hand”. Yes on the outside the respect in him”;
“Ciceală does not control the voters, I believe that a large majority will not vote again if he withdraws. Then it is possible that Ciucu will also grab a part. The result would be that he would greatly disappoint his voters, who would no longer feel represented, would destroy his chances of doing something in the future, plus it would also affect the party”;=.
Others looked at the partnership perspective.
“The problem is that any pact between Ciceala and Drula would be worth nothing after the elections. SENS has no advisers, and PSD, PNL, PUSL and AUR can vote against the mayor and block any appointment. The only more ok post could be that of city manager, but I don’t know how much power he would have,” someone wrote.
But many believe polling percentages should not cause candidates to give up. And it encourages perseverance, as in the case of Nicușor Dan, who ran several times before becoming general mayor:
“I support Ciceală and it’s not about pragmatism. Cicălă and Drălă have other programs, other visions and another electorate. Cicălă is not retiring; if she loses, she will build towards a possible victory in 2029 or 2034. And as a supporter, I encourage her to do this even with the danger of Băluță. If Drălă and Ciucu cannot get along, that in fact they are on the same aisle, it is their business.”
,“And de Nicusor thought that he would never win”;
“Then what would be the point of running for anyone, including Nicușor in 2012? Oprescu was rated with 60% then, just like Negoiță in 2020”
Some of the commentators have thought about the possibility of surprises in this election:
“He might have a big but BIG surprise and come out under the Gossip”someone wrote about Cătălin Drula.
“Prediction: Drula will take Ciceăla to PMB” rings another comment. To which another user replied: ,,Prediction: Cicela will take below 7%; it’s one thing to intend to vote, another to go out and do it.”
