The disaster of the ruling PSD-ALDE in the European parliamentary elections has brought Nicușor Dan, MP, a founding member of USR (Save Romania Union, center), into the spotlight of the opposition for the upcoming elections.
The Liberals negotiate with Nicușor Dan a PNL (liberals affiliated to PPE) candidacy for the City Hall of Bucharest. Even if the Liberals have 3-4 names for the Capital, party sources say there have been more discussions between PNL leaders and Nicușor Dan and that the Liberals are asking Nicușor Dan to join PNL, while the MP would like to run independent and be supported by liberals as well.
In PNL it was calculated that a party's nomination of Nicușor Dan would represent a massive hit to USR-PLUS. Liberals say that USR-PLUS can not criticize the founder of the party, and his candidacy from PNL would dent the USR-PLUS electorate.
And in USR-PLUS there is a group of "Nicușor-isits" who would like Nicușor Dan to return to the party and be the candidate of the party to the Bucharest City Hall in 2020. But they do not have the power in the party. An option currently being circulated in USR-PLUS is Vlad Voiculescu's candidacy at Bucharest City Hall.
At the moment, USR-PLUS are more concerned with internal battles for the presidential candidate, the prime minister's proposal, and a possible merger.
