PLUS's Ciolos supports single candidate of Opposition for Bucharest's mayoralty

The opposition should have a single candidate for the position of the capital's mayor, the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) chairman Dacian Ciolos told on Sunday private TV broadcaster Digi 24. 

He said that the situation at the local elections in 2016, when the opposition would have won if it had agreed on a single candidate, must be a lesson. 

"In 2016, at the local elections, the opposition at that time, or the parties that wanted reform in Bucharest, could have won if they had agreed on the same candidate. I was in the same situation, USR [Save Romania Union] had a candidate, PNL [National Liberal Party] wanted to support another candidate. What I can tell you now is that the USR PLUS Alliance will support only one candidate and we are open to discuss with the PNL, to have a single candidate with the PNL and if possible with the PMP [People's Movement Party], in fact, all the opposition. I believe that this is possible and necessary, it is obligatory. I understand that the PNL, which is an important party, wants to have candidates everywhere, but does it want to win as well? Because if it wants to win, then I think that everyone, also President Iohannis, who suggested to the PNL to have a candidate, and the PNL and the other parties, should remember the situation in the summer of 2016 and understand," said Dacian Ciolos. 

The PLUS leader argues that, in the next period, each party can present a candidate, but that a preselection must be organized in order to be able to nominate the one who is best placed, as they have the opportunity to present their program and debate directly with the voters. 

Dacian Ciolos also said that the problem of Bucharest is that it has not had a real development project in recent years. 

"You saw what Gabriela Firea spent money on, all kinds of prizes for those who get married, on Chinese lanterns, on statues and so on. There was no coherence of actions to address the structural problems of Bucharest: pollution, transport, traffic, stability of buildings, systematization of Bucharest, the relationship with the suburbs," Ciolos stressed.