| A FRESH ELECTION CAMPAIGN 14/04/2008 |
| (2008-04-14) |
| Last updated: 2008-04-15 15:20 EET |
As every time when local elections are held, the Romanian political leaders’ top target is Bucharest. Dubbed ‘the spoiled child of the electorate’, as the latest polls showed, the Liberal Democratic Party, the political group closest to the heart of incumbent president Traian Basescu, came up with the nomination of Vasile Blaga. The present MP, former Interior minister and ex-state secretary Blaga enjoys a good image and the local media ranks him as favorite in the race for Bucharest’s mayor seat.
The Social-Democrats have nominated one of their vice-presidents, Cristian Diaconescu, former justice minister, although other political members became very vocal in announcing their candidature, such as Marian Vanghelie, the mayor of Bucharest’s district five, MP Sorin Oprescu and even PSD secretary general Miron Mitrea. The co-ruling Liberals, jointly with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania have nominated Ludovic Orban, the incumbent Transport Minister, and former Bucharest’s deputy mayor, between 2005-2007.
Of course all the parties want to secure as many victories in local election as they can possibly get, particularly in Bucharest, as it is known that such a success should boost their image in the run up to the legislative election at the end of the year and the presidential ones in 2009.
As far as the coming period is concerned, the Monday edition of the Jurnalul National carried out an interview with former presidential advisor Adriana Saftoiu and head of the 2004 campaign which ensured the election success of president Basescu. According to Saftoiu, the Romanian electorate is still hysterical and hungry for emotional speeches. Moreover, Saftoiu believes that 18 years on after the demise of the communist regime, the Romanians are still favoring the same candidates and that ‘2008 will be an ugly year’. We’ll wait and see whether Saftoiu’s prediction comes true.
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2025-04-03
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