If the ruling coalition changes its presidential candidate at this point, then Calin Georgescu will win, UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) chair Kelemen Hunor warns on Saturday.
"It was very clear to me that, if we were to enter such a coalition, we must have a single candidate, we must have elections as soon as possible and we must have a candidate who can be credible to a large majority. (...) I have dropped a few names. It is true that I have spoken with each one before, for I cannot afford to just drop names like that. Except for the name of Daniel David. (...) [I said - editor's note] [Teodor] Paleologu, [Daniel] Funeriu, Crin Antonescu, we also talked about Nicusor Dan. And we discussed all these options in the coalition. And a consensus has more or less emerged around Mr. Antonescu," Kelemen Hunor told Prima TV private television broadcaster.
He added that PSD (Social Democratic Party) leader Marcel Ciolacu wanted the candidate's name to be included in the coalition protocol, so that there would be no surprises later, provided that it was validated in the forums of each political party, which indeed happened, Agerpres infroms.
"In my opinion, yes, it is a correct choice and my approach going forward is that Antonescu can and must enter the second round and he can win the second round. (...) He has never lied to me, he has never been an extremist, an irrational man. Crin Antonescu is a man who has ideas, who knows how to speak, who feels the society, who he has this empathy to feel the society, as he knows what it means to be a poor person, to start from the bottom. And he has clear principles and very clear values. He is a patriot, but he never exaggerates. In 2016 he retired from politics. This is how I understand it, not that he went to sleep in Brussels (...) He did not want to return to politics and it was not Antonescu's ambition to return to politics. He was asked to return to politics," the UDMR chair said.
Asked if a part of the PNL (National Liberal Party) could support Nicusor Dan, Kelemen Hunor says that "in each party there may be different approaches that do not influence in any way the leaders' approach," but he believes that "any other scenario for the coalition means an unnecessary challenge and comes with high risks."
"So what they did last year must be a lesson to everyone. You cannot go in two directions with the same coalition and then wake up to see that none of the coalition candidates entered the second round," Kelemen Hunor pointed out.
According to him, many "strategic and tactical" mistakes were made last year.
"They have made huge efforts from a budgetary point of view to support the increase in pensions, salaries and investments. But this, after last year's results, shows us that you cannot win votes only through investments, through money, through salary increases, if there is not enough trust in you as a leader," is the opinion of the UDMR leader.
Comentează