Until the presidential elections announced by the Prime Minister and the President of the Senate, shoulder to shoulder at the beginning of March, less than 3 months remain. And yet, the candidates are officially known only to a small extent, and even the date of the elections is still a subject of dispute.
In the calendar of past years, the equivalent of the current moment was the month of September. Has it ever happened before that in September we did not know the date or the candidates, especially considering that we are at the end of an era and a completely new president will follow? It’s a genuine political folly.
On Tuesday, the two parties said that at least the date of the presidential elections was supposed to be established. They didn't succeed, but throughout the day, various options were leaked through unofficial sources, at least four. PSD in September – October, PNL in November-December.
Regarding the explanations for why PNL wants to postpone the elections, diversified in the meantime by Rareș Bogdan, it is not even worth discussing because they are ridiculous as long as, until the European local elections, President Nicolae Ciucă himself declared the date issue closed according to the agreement from March and provided arguments in favor of the September election.
We have already discussed the real explanation of the turmoil. It may be about enhancing Nicolae Ciucă's chances, including eroding Marcel Ciolacu, it may be once again about Klaus Iohannis' interests, who, having minimal chances of obtaining any high European position, does not become completely irrelevant four months before the official end of his term by the appearance of the newly elected president, who would capture all the attention.
A Blow with All Might
PNL hopes to strike a blow with the elections in winter. They are already doing so, with all their might, in their own vulnerable areas.
Do the liberals want to enhance Nicolae Ciucă, whose pictures have filled all the roads in the country, supposedly with an ad for a book that has not yet been published?
What is happening now is probably taking away Mr. Ciucă's only real advantage, which no one has challenged so far and on which the unprecedented solution of rotating prime ministers was based: the honor of keeping one's word.
This is also going against his own words about the election date. And as he seems rather obliged by his lieutenants to do so, the military chief's icing on the cake, which has become a puppet of the political leaders, is also being destroyed.
Is the general waiting to be saved once again by PSD, as it happened in the European Parliament elections?
But what is truly important is the effect of this political mess on the electorate, to whom no one has explained what the difference is for them between elections in September or November. School is in both months, weather problems can occur in both months.
And after hearing only about stability for months, it is now being questioned for internal political calculations from which people have nothing to gain and are fed up with.
The Worst Thing is the Lie
So the prestige and credibility of the Romanian political class were already at rock bottom, and when a politician said it was raining outside, many citizens felt the need to put their hand out the window. Now they all will.
It is inconceivable for a sane person that statesmen, including the second person in the hierarchy of high dignitaries, European parliamentarians, deputies, and senators can not only twist the truth but outright lie shamelessly against video evidence and deny their own statements.
So how can they be believed when announcing or denying information regarding governance actions, taxes and fees, economic developments, or any kind of regulations?
The foundation of democracy is trust. To vote, to voluntarily comply with political decisions, trust is needed. Without this foundation of trust, a country is ungovernable.
Why does conspiracy theory have such great success in Romania? Also because the official discourse is not credible. Why is it not credible? Because of the countless lies. And what we see now represents a new peak.
The worst thing is the real possibility that the disgusting spectacle of these days will translate into massive absenteeism and/or an even larger part of the electorate slipping into the area of anti-system protest voting.