USR PLUS to finalise general election lists next week

Next week, the Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) alliance will finalise its lists for this year's general election, MEP Dacian Ciolos said on Saturday in Brasov, adding that the lists "are not decided at a central level, by the national leaders of the two parties; the candidates will not be handpicked to office, but they will result from an internal selection process."

"We decided to merge USR and PLUS this summer, but from a procedural point of view, until the legal process of the merger is completed, we have to follow the constitutions of the two parties, on the basis of which we operate, and so we have specific USR and PLUS selection processes and also a joint one, both (...) with the involvement of members at the local level. Bids have already been submitted, there are colleagues who have also campaigned internally (...), and today we have general meetings of delegates, who vote on these bids so that next week we may be able to finalise the lists and the order on them," said Ciolos.

He said that when drawing up the lists the results the alliance's chapters in the recent local elections will not be taken into account, but the "profile" of the candidates, the way in which they manage to "convince colleagues," but all those appointed will have to pass the integrity test.

"We will devise a litmus test to make sure, in particular, that all candidates comply with the integrity criteria set out in the constitutions of the two parties, the alliance protocol, but otherwise decisions are made by involving members at the local level," said the USR leader.

Brasov elected Mayor Allen Coliban, who won a seat in the Senate in 2016, said the general election is the first that USR PLUS is running for the second time and, same as in 2016, the lists are drawn up based on the vote of the members, being "a festival of democracy."

"The fact that we are two entities that merged has not prevented this process, and from the central level there was a message to the chapters: you have all the freedom to discuss, to negotiate, just make sure that leads to both entities' representation. So there is this freedom for the chapters to get deserving candidates, "Coliban said.