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President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday that the National Liberal Party (PNL) is the "engine of change" and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) - the "promoter of toxic politics", showing that this is why collaborations between the two parties are excluded.
"It seems fair to me that, after the election, there should be discussion within the parties about who can make alliances with whom and with whom not to make alliances. For reasons that I have stated many times, I believe that the National Liberal Party is the political force that can beat the PSD and change the way politics is done in Romania. This is seen in the same way in the PNL and, for this reason, the PNL and PSD collaborations are excluded. The PNL is the engine of change, the PSD is, if we can say so, the promoter of toxic politics, which we also see in Parliament and which neither we nor the Romanians want," Iohannis said in a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace.
He was asked how the PSD succeeded in taking a political score of 30 pct in the local elections.
"Changes in politics in local government do not occur very quickly and people have certainly noticed in many localities that there are viable alternatives and voted for alternatives. This explains that the first time since the Revolution, a right-wing party, i.e. the PNL, won the local elections, but the PSD, with all its leanings and with all its toxic approach in Parliament, still has quite a large number of voters, and if I or someone from the PNL criticizes the PSD, for good reason, then we criticize the Social Democratic Party, not the voters. Every Romanian has the right to vote and to vote for whom they want. There are no good voters and bad voters, there are Romanian voters. That's why we make democratic elections, that's why we end up counting the votes and whoever has the most votes is leading," the president said.
According to him, local elections were won by the PNL with a political score of 34 pct, pointing out that it is the first time in post-December history that the PSD has lost local elections.
"It's also a symbolic victory for the PNL. This is the first time since the Revolution that a right-wing party has won local elections in Romania. But no one is perfect. There were situations where the results, unfortunately, were far from expectations, as were interesting situations where the results were beyond expectations," Klaus Iohannis said.
He was asked about the mayors who went from one party to another and what they expect from them.
"I expect changes from the parties that have proven that they have good projects for Romania and I am convinced that the number of mayors who will come up with good projects for their communities is significantly higher than the number of those who just wait the time to pass. It takes people willing to make extra change, a positive, sustainable change, but in politics there is also a need for parties that, on the whole, are willing to make these changes, to take the risk of changes, because changes always come with a political risk. Not everyone wants change for the better, you know. And the National Liberal Party, but also USR PLUS [Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity], which are at the beginning of the road, have proven that they want a change in the way politics is done in Romania, that they want to come up with good reforms for Romania and for Romanians," Iohannis said.
