Strategies for the second round of the presidential election

The Liberals and the Social Democrats get ready for the final battle for the presidential seat.

Roxana Vasile, 13.11.2019, 13:45

The second round of the presidential election in Romania is due on November 24 and the competition between the two candidates is tougher than ever. The incumbent president, Klaus Iohannis, representing the right wing, has the first chance to winning the election, since he got 37% of the votes in the first round. His contender is the former Social Democrat PM, Viorica Dancila, whose government had been dismissed a week before the first round, through a no-confidence vote initiated by the National Liberal Party, which supports Klaus Iohannis. Against all expectations, Dancila came second in the first round of the election, with 23% of the ballots, showing that the Social Democrats are still a threat.

Liberal PM Ludovic Orban: “The Social Democratic Party is still alive and is dangerous. Against all expectations, their candidate has made it to the second round. The battle continues and the vote of every Romanian is important.”

The decision taken by President Klaus Iohannis not to participate in any direct debate with Viorica Dancila is surprising for many people. On Tuesday, the President, who made no secret out of his goal to remove the Social Democrats from power, has written in a post that there can be no debate with a candidate of a party that ruled against the Romanians and that only pretends to favor democracy. The Liberals, however, have promised that the head of state will have a constant dialogue with the citizens, through direct meetings and communication. Dancila has reacted by saying that the President is afraid of a confrontation with her and insisted that a debate would help her dismiss all accusations leveled against her and her party in the past few years. The Social Democrats seem determined to win the election, so on Tuesday evening, the party’s Executive Committee decided that every local organization should bring at least 50% of the votes in the second round.

Viorica Dancila: “I am convinced that every colleague will contribute to this, because this is how they feel and this is in the best interest of Romanians and Romania.”

Apart from discussing topics related to the election, the PSD Executive Committee decided to expel some of the party members. (Translated by Elena Enache)