Presidential election/Independent Dan says not 'democratically fair' for court to stop a candidate from running

Independent presidential candidate Nicusor Dan says that it is not "democratically fair" for the Constitutional Couty (CCR) to be able to stop a candidate from the race, adding that the decision taken last year regarding Diana Sosoaca was legal.

Dan told a news conference in Cluj-Napoca on Saturday that his point of view is that "anyone, except if he or she proposes some unacceptable issues, can run."

"We had the case, as you know very well, the Constitutional Court, in my opinion, correctly interpreted the law and banned the candidacy, the problem is that the law allows the Constitutional Court to make such a decision, I don't think it's democratically fair, so we have to look at the mechanism for the next elections."

As for the upcoming election campaign, he said that "things have become very simple, there is a direction that is called in many ways, but in essence it is called Russia, there is a direction that means 'we leave things as they were' and there is a great expectation from Romanians for change with the preservation of the Western direction." The third is the direction in which he believes Romania should go.

"It will be an electoral campaign that, against the background of distrust in the entire political class, the voice of ordinary people will matter more than the voice of politicians."

Referring to the tensions between the US and Europe of late, he said that Romania must strengthen its partnership with both sides.

Asked if he supports increasing the percentage of GDP for defence spending, Dan said it is a necessity.

"In an ideal world, it would be stupid to increase defence spending when you have some needs for education, for the development of communities, but we are not in an ideal world and anything, if we look at Ukraine, anything is better than a war. It is not only that, it is also about developing the army, developing production facilities that will also boost the national economy, and increasing the percentage of GDP for defence spending is a necessity that must be done gradually and in agreement with our partners, the US and Europe," said Dan.