The governing coalition could set, on Wednesday, the date of organizing the presidential elections, after the PNL and PSD leaders had contradictory statements on this topic. Political analyst George Jiglău explained for Adevărul what is the stake of this political movement.
Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă, in contradiction regarding the date of the presidential elections PHOTO Mediafax
Although at the end of February, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced that in the governing coalition it was decided that the presidential elections would be held on September 15 and 29, and the parliamentary elections on December 8, now, after the combined local and European parliamentary elections, the two party leaders have divided opinions on whether or not to keep the decided format.
PNL leader Nicolae Ciucă said that the date of the presidential elections could be changed. “At the moment, since there is still no government decision to set the date of the elections, we can discuss and analyze, see what are the good parts, what are the less good parts vis-a-vis a summer campaign or we are taking them to where they have really been over time, close to the parliamentary elections”, declared Nicolae Ciucă.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that there is already a “decision made in the Coalition and assumed by everyone, that the elections be in September”, adding that Nicolae Ciucă “must take responsibility for the decisions made in Coalition”.
However, the PNL president motivated his statements as coming against the background of the local and European parliamentary elections and the feedback, the messages he had from the territory“primarily from the parents”, claiming that “it was a matter related to the fact that the education process was disrupted”, due to the organization of polling stations in schools, the final results not yet being announced. “It's one thing to be interrupted for a day or two and another to be interrupted for eight days“, said Ciucă.
The president of the PNL declared that on Wednesday the governing coalition could set the date of the presidential elections. “We did not have time to discuss this topic concretely and in detail. Discussions will take place on Wednesday, when we will have a coalition. We are not changing this date at all. It is an analysis, and that analysis must take place within the coalition. We see what it is about“, Nicolae Ciucă also said.
Setting the election date: “an important political move”
The political analyst George Jiglău stated for “Adevărul” that regarding the stake of the date of the presidential elections, when they were merged with the parliamentary ones “the score of the candidates in the presidential elections was almost overlapping with the score of the parties“.
“In the specific current context, it matters how the two big parties will position themselves in relation to the presidential candidates. (…) If they go on joint lists in the parliamentary elections or not, probably, let's assume they will go on joint lists, having only one candidate would give them a very big chance”, explained the analyst, adding that it might still be a bit difficult for the parties “to campaign for a member of the other party“.
On the other hand, George Jiglău believes that if we are going to have presidential elections not overlapping with parliamentary ones “then the competition will be much more personalized, the person of the candidates will matter much more, it will also matter more if we have a second round. “The emphasis is much more on the person of the candidates and depending on the score from the presidential elections, after that the dynamic of the parliamentarians will be completely different. Because depending on who becomes president, PSD – PNL can be expected or not if they continue to govern together, if it makes sense to go on a joint list or separately from any kind of calculations”, the analyst added.
The analyst explained that setting the election date “it's an important political movement” again the stake of each party also lies in which candidates they will have. “If the PNL enters with Ciucă, for example, I think he needs a bit more time, it's not for nothing that he took the time to promote his image as a presidential candidate, possibly president”said the analyst.
“The PSD seems to me to be much better organized, it has always been like that, and more capable of a quick reaction to catch the others a little bit off guard. The PNL does not have the same strength in the territory that the PSD has, it never had, even if now it has done well in the elections. When it comes to winning some national specific elections, I don't think the preparation in the territory is as big plus that one is for the local leaders to mobilize their electorate in relation to their own person in some local organization, cities or in the country , and another is to mobilize them to vote for a presidential candidate. Things are not going to translate exactly. Whereas in the PSD, this party machine, their mobilization force is much greater and in the shorter term, which creates an advantage for them in relation to all parties“, stated Jiglău, adding that PSD still has a question mark related to the establishment of the candidate and that: “tthey need to establish a candidate who doesn't just win the first round like they usually do, except in 2019, but has a chance to win the second round.”
The political scientist explained that things are not necessarily easy on either side, but put “rush from PSD” due to the ease of mobilization, “while at PNL they also leave with the organizational disadvantage, with the fact that they have to produce a candidate who has some image, chances, here it seems to me that they always leave with a disadvantage, regardless of whether it will be Ciucă or someone else there.”
