The European Parliament election of
\nMay 2019 confirmed the Social-Democratic Party had been losing ground, at the
\ntime the National Liberal Party winning most of the vote. Under the heavy
\nburden of their own mistakes, the Social-Democrats dropped from 45%, a figure
\nthey reported at the legislative election of 2016, to under 23%. The day
\nfollowing this failure, the Social-Democrats also lost their leader, Liviu
\nDragnea, sentenced to prison for corruption and deemed the man responsible for
\nthe party’s sidetracking. His replacement, Viorica Dancila, a Prime Minister
\nsince January 2018, will go down in the dark history of the Social-Democratic
\nParty as the candidate who won the fewest votes in a presidential runoff. In
\nNovember, the acting president Klaus Iohannis secured a new term in office, winning
\n66% of the vote. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Previously, the Liberal Party had grabbed another victory,
\nnamely removing the Dancila Cabinet from power and taking office. Thus
\nIohannis’s winning the election marked the return of the Liberals in power.
\nStill, the Social-Democrats still hold a relative majority in Parliament, which
\nforced Ludovic Orban’s Cabinet to take responsibility for a number of laws,
\nincluding the state budget for 2020. The Liberals however will find it
\nincreasingly difficult to rule in the absence of a solid majority, which can
\nonly be obtained in an election. It is something that 2020 will decide. Now,
\nmore than ever, there is talk about early elections, which would favor the
\nLiberals more than the Social-Democrats. In such a case the Liberals would get
\na fresh start at the end of a year in office, while the Social-Democrats would
\nhave little time to close ranks after the repeated blows they were dealt last
\nyear. Early elections entail a complicated and difficult process,
\nconstitutionally speaking. This is why no one fathoms such a scenario to
\neventually come through, says political pundit Alexandru Lazarescu.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s hard to believe we will get
\nto that point. Of course, right now the National Liberal Party would get a
\nbetter score as compared to the end of the year, when legislative elections are
\ndue, but it’s complicated. So I believe the discussion is meant to keep the
\ntopic in the limelight, while it doesn’t seem reasonable to think this will
\nactually happen. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In mid-2020 Romania will also see
\nlocal elections, which will hold an important stake as well. Mayors are
\ncurrently elected in one round of elections, which raises serious questions
\nabout their representation. Large parties, the Social-Democratic Party first
\nand foremost, but also the National Liberal Party, are favored by the current
\nsystem, whereas smaller parties, Save Romania Union in particular, want to
\nchange the current legislation to increase their odds. The Liberals said they
\nwant the same thing, though many suspect they wouldn’t be too bothered if the
\nlegislation stayed the same, which would certainly help them win the election
\nin large cities currently under their political control. The biggest prize is,
\nas always, Bucharest. Once a traditional fiefdom of the right-wing, the capital
\ncity is now under the full control of the Social-Democrats.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu) <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whereas elections for the European Parliament and the Romanian presidency were held in 2019, 2020 will see local and legislative elections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":83789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[2020,38482,30860,29336,30443,29346],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-84235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-campanie-vaccinare-vaccin-covid","tag-election-year","tag-legislative-elections","tag-local-elections","tag-national-liberal-party","tag-social-democratic-party"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n