Preparations for elections

Political parties are busy finalising candidate lists for upcoming parliamentary elections of 6th December.

Roxana Vasile, 21.10.2020, 13:50

While Parliament is debating
a bill to postpone the parliamentary elections for next March, political
parties are preparing in case elections do take place on the scheduled date, on
6th December. One argument used by prime minister Ludovic Orban to
hold elections on the established date is that other European states have also
held elections during the pandemic. The People’s Movement Party and the Save
Romania Union share the prime minister’s view. The Social Democratic Party in opposition,
as well as Pro Romania and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats are in favour
of postponing the elections. Until the matter is settled, all parties are busy
drawing up their candidate lists, which must be submitted by 29th
October.

The Liberals have already
submitted to the Central Electoral Bureau a list of over 700,000 endorsements. Prime
minister Orban is top of the list of candidates for the Chamber of Deputies in
Bucharest, while finance minister Florin
Cîţu heads the list for Senate. Most government ministers are in fact running
for a seat in Parliament. Ludovic Orban:

I encourage Romanians to go to the ballots on 6th
December and vote for the National Liberal Party, which is the only political force
able to defeat the Social Democratic Party and to govern Romania. We are
campaigning under the simple slogan We are developing Romania. This is our
goal, to ensure accelerated growth for Romania, using the resources of
intelligence and diligence of the Romanian people.

The Social Democrats, who are criticising vehemently
the way in which the National Liberal Party has been managing the country during
the pandemic, are promising lots of experts. Their candidate lists feature,
among others, Romania’s representative to the World Health Organisation,
professor Alexadru Rafila, and the manager of the Matei Balş Institute in
Bucharest, Adrian Streinu-Cercel, both of whom are involved in the fight
against the novel coronavirus. The first deputy-president of the Social
Democratic Party, Sorin Grindeanu:

As promised, we have continued to promote experts on our
candidate lists, people of integrity, competent, known to the public for their
professional achievements, people who know what they are talking about and who
have the necessary solutions to the current problems of society, people who
have demonstrated their experience in their fields, beyond their seniority within
the party.

Ethnic minorities other than the Hungarian minority
have 52 candidates. In the diaspora, where elections are due to be held over
the course of two days, on 5th and 6th December, the candidate
lists are final for 8 political parties and two independents. Romanian citizens
domiciled or residing abroad can still register to vote by mail by 22nd
October. Some 32,000 such applications had been submitted by Wednesday morning.