Parties submit lists of candidates for Parliament

Thursday was the deadline for submitting candidacies for the legislative election

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Roxana Vasile, 23.10.2020, 13:50

Thursday was the last day when parties could submit
their lists of candidates for the legislative election in Romania. While some
voices argued in favor of postponing the election for next spring, due to the
pandemic, the election is very likely to be held as scheduled, on December 6,
something that President Klaus Iohannis and the Liberal Government both want.
The National Liberal Party’s list for the Romanian Parliament includes most of
the current ministers. Romania is fortunate to have a Government acting in its
national interest, the Liberal vice-president Raluca Turcan said, herself
seeking to win a new mandate in Parliament.

In the long term we want to restore Romanians’ trust
in Parliament, because Parliament makes good decisions and passes laws for
every Romanian.

In turn, the co-leader of the Save Romania Union -
PLUS Alliance, Dan Barna, hopes the Alliance will get a good score, allowing it
to be part of a potential governing alliance.

We need to hold the election as soon as possible, in
order to have a stable Government and a Parliament that should support the reforms
and measures Romania needs to take in order to deal with the pandemic.

On the other hand, the Social-Democratic Party, now in
opposition, has included on its list for Parliament new people and experts from
various fields. One of them is Professor Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s
representative at the WHO, while another is Professor Adrian Streinu-Cercel,
the manager of the Matei Balş Institute for Infectious Diseases in Bucharest,
both of them closely involved in the fight against the coronavirus. Here is
Social-Democrat President Marcel Ciolacu:

I am proud of every Social-Democratic candidate
running for Parliament. By far we have the best solutions for every sector.

The PRO Romania Party and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats decided to merge ahead of the election and submit joint candidates,
with former Social-Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta and former Liberal
Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu on the two top positions. In turn, the
People’s Movement Party has picked Elena Băsescu, the youngest daughter of
former President Traian Băsescu, as one of their top candidates. National
minority groups have also submitted their candidates, and the Democratic Union
of Ethnic Hungarians will this year try to secure a strong presence in
Parliament. A total of 8 candidacies have been submitted for MPs representing
the Diaspora, six from political parties and two by independent candidates. The
appealed version of the lists will be published on November 2, and the campaign
is due to start on November 6.

(Translated by V. Palcu)