European Parliament elections are fast approaching, and a new POLITICO analysis has shown that these elections are overshadowed by local ones, and almost none of the citizens of the European Union would consider the well-being of Europe or the rules imposed by Brussels when they vote.
The effect of local elections on the vote for the European Parliament
The data reveal the fact that most citizens of the community block do not understand the vote for the European Parliament, nor do they see the point of these elections. Precisely for this reason, Europeans tend to vote mainly according to domestic concerns and not the policy imposed by Brussels, according to Politico.
In Romania, local elections take place on the same day as the EU vote, which has meant that issues related to Brussels have been left on the back burner, with voters focusing on topics such as the housing crisis and corruption at the municipal level, reports the mentioned publication.
The country's two largest parties – the centre-left Social Democratic Party and the centre-right National Liberal Party – currently govern together in a grand coalition and run together in elections at the alliance level. The idea was to ensure stability in the turbulent political climate in Romania, with the war in Russia wreaking havoc near its border, and to reject the rising far-right party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), writes the quoted source.
Analyst: PNL and PSD have the advantage of being in government
“POLITICO is reporting developments in a general way, which means it can't be very accurate. The United Right can speculate on some real discontent, but so can AUR”told “truthValeriu Turcan, political analyst and former presidential adviser.
But the plan appears to be backfiring, with each party's electorate reluctant to vote for the other, the centre-right parties “Union Save Romania” (USR) and “The renewal of Romania's European project” (REPER) going to make the biggest gains, considered Politico journalists.
“I'm afraid that the trends suggested by POLITICO have no counterpart in reality. Only a possible victory of Nicușor Dan in Bucharest could create the impression that the United Right won something relevant. For the rest, this team is trying not to lose Timișoara and Brașov. They still have aggressive campaigns in Constanța, otherwise it's a bit quiet“, Valeriu Turcan also declared for “truth“.
Regarding the election results, the analyst claims that “PSD and PNL they will come out on top both together, in the European Parliament, and separately, in the local ones. It benefits from the advantage of being in government and doing concrete things before the actual vote. So the hierarchy will start with PSD and PNL. If they are disadvantaged, we will be able to draw this conclusion if they take, for example, 40% in the European Parliament elections. At 45% it will be a very good score and at 50% an exceptional and unexpected one”.
