2016 is an
\nelection year in Romania, with local elections due on the 5th of
\nJune, followed by parliamentary elections towards the end of the year. This is
\nthe third time in the country’s post-communist history that a technocratic
\ngovernment is organising the elections. The first time this happened was during
\nTheodor Stolojan’s tenure, in the 1991-1992 period, and the second during Mugur
\nIsarescu’s government, in the 1999-2000 period. Endorsed by the two biggest
\nparties in Romania, the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party,
\nDacian Ciolos’ government is also responsible for holding fair elections.
\nCandidates have already started to submit their applications for the local
\nelections, before the final list is announced on the 4th of May. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Compared with
\nfour years ago, when 82 different parties and electoral and political alliances
\nregistered for the elections, this number has grown to 126 this time around. Mainstream
\nparties such as the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the Alliance of Liberals and
\nDemocrats for Europe, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the
\nPeople’s Movement Party have been joined by many newly created parties.
\nAccording to a new law that came into force in 2015, a new party can be
\nestablished if it has at least 3 members. Political analyst Cristian Parvulescu
\ngives us an overview of the Romanian political scene at the moment:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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The political
\nscene in Romania is in disarray, mainly because of corruption scandals. This is
\nwhat the situation is like at this moment, at the beginning of April, but
\nthings may change. For example, the fact that Ludovic Orban has withdrawn his
\nbid for Bucharest mayor following a corruption scandal is proof of this and may
\ncreate problems for parties, given that the system for electing local mayors
\nfavours the big parties and incumbent mayors. There is, however, a large degree
\nof uncertainty, which has to do with the parties’ ability to mobilise their own
\nvoters, on the one hand, and with the reaction of society and voters, on the
\nother. Will we see a high turnout? Will those who are dissatisfied with the
\npolitical class turn up to vote? Will people vote for the newly created
\nparties? These are questions to which we do not have an answer yet, but which
\nshow how unsettled the political scene is at the moment.<\/p>\n
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According to a
\nrecent INSCOP poll, more than 90% of Romanian voters say they would no longer
\nvote for a candidate who is under investigation or has been sentenced for acts
\nof corruption, while 88% believe public figures who receive a final sentence
\nfor corruption should not be allowed to hold a public office. Could this attitude
\nbe a sign that something has changed in the mentality of the Romanian voters
\nand that Romania’s political scene might look differently after the upcoming
\nelections? Here is Cristian Parvulescu again:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
It’s hard to
\nmake predictions. We have to wait and see what happens during the elections.
\nIt’s clear, though, that incumbent mayors have an advantage in this race. Of
\ncourse the National Anticorruption Directorate is a major player, its actions
\nleading to many candidates dropping out of the race and thus relaunching the
\nelection race in many places across Romania, such as Bucharest, Constanta,
\nIasi, Ploiesti and Brasov, but in the end it all boils down to the citizens and
\ntheir votes. We’ll see on June 6th if they are really determined to
\ngo all the way or if they only said those things for the sake of convenience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Just how important is the anti-corruption agenda for
\nvoters considering that some former mayors enjoy popularity rates of 50%
\ndespite being under investigation for corruption? Cristian Parvulescu says he
\nis not surprised: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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We have to
\ntake opinion polls for what they are, namely instruments used to take the pulse
\nof public opinion and the way in which public opinion perceives certain things.
\nOpinion polls shouldn’t be regarded as absolute truths. Things are changing.
\nI’m reminding you that Victor Ponta was leading in every opinion poll in 2014
\nahead of the elections, but voters changed everything, and this could happen in
\nthe local elections as well. I agree there is a certain amount of support for
\nincumbent mayors due to voters’ inertia, especially among voters who do turn up
\nto vote. We will probably see many mayors get re-elected who have problems with
\nthe law but who have not been convicted yet and can therefore run for office.
\nHowever, this doesn’t mean corruption is not a major issue for public opinion
\nor that people don’t make the connection between corruption and mayoral
\nelections. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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How will the local political scene look like at the end of
\nthis year? Cristian Parvulescu believes it won’t be different from what we have
\nnow:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
We’ll probably see new faces, because political parties
\nwill be forced to come up with new candidates. Under the current legislation, I
\ndon’t see many independent candidates and political parties entering the race.
\nHowever, this opinion is based on what has happened so far, the experience of
\nprevious elections. With the exception of the presidential elections, voter
\nturnout has been low and low turnout in the local and parliamentary elections
\nfavours existing parties, not new ones.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\nCristian Parvulescu said, however, that new
\nfaces may still join the race and that big cities, Bucharest in particular,
\nwill play a key role in fashioning a new political landscape in Romania. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2016 is an election year in Romania, with local elections due on the 5th of June, followed by parliamentary elections towards the end of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":66207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[29336,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-155475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-local-elections","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n