| POLITICAL DEBATES AHEAD OF THE ELECTIONS 22/09/2008 |
| (2008-09-22) |
| Last updated: 2008-09-22 15:40 EET |
Not long ago, an opinion poll found the two main opposition parties, the left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the pro-presidential Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) almost on equal footing, with 31-32% of the votes, double the score of the ruling Liberal Party. But according to another poll, made public on Sunday, 39% of the Romanians would vote for PDL, only 25% for PSD and 20% for PNL. These are in fact the only parties expected to meet the 5% electoral threshold and win seats in the new Parliament, whereas populist opposition parties such as PNG and PRM, or the junior ruling partner UDMR would be left out.
The poll also indicates that, out of the prime minister nominees, the Liberal Democrat Theodor Stolojan is the most popular. To 41% of the respondents, he is the closest to the ideal prime minister, a position that he held in the early ‘90s, when he was the independent leader of a left-wing government. Next comes the PSD leader Mircea Geoana, with 33%, and the incumbent premier, the Liberal Calin Popescu Tariceanu with 26%.
Encouraged by poll findings, the Liberal Democrats further boosted their image, with a plan to change the Constitution after the November election, so as to downsize an overstaffed Parliament struggling with a 10% public confidence rate. According to PDL leader Emil Boc, the shift to an unicameral parliament, with 300 MPs instead of the current 469 is quite necessary:
“The current bicameral system, with a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, does not meet the needs of a democratic society, because the election procedure is the same for both chambers, when in fact they are supposed to represent the interests of different social categories. The legislative process in an unicameral parliament is a lot more efficient and faster.”
Quite predictably, all other parliamentary parties opposed the idea. The Social Democrats turned it down as populist, the Liberals ironically asked PDL to practice what they preach and withdraw their Senate candidates, while PRM accused them of resorting to “pressure on an uninformed public, in order to impose an elitist plan.”
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2025-04-03
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