If we were to still trust the decisions made within the coalition, the first round of the presidential elections should take place on May 4, the second on May 18, and the common candidate of the three parties remains Crin Antonescu.
If! Because just as certain was the organization of the first round between Christmas and New Year’s on March 23. And the common candidate, whose full name was included in the founding act of the coalition, self-suspended from the agreement because he did not receive any signals from the parties.
At the same time, from unofficial sources we learn what official communication does not reveal, that the validation of Mr. Antonescu by the parties is supposed to be based on the results of measurements that will be carried out in the immediate future. We have heard about the candidate, even the candidates "for now."
First you cut and then you measure?
From the start, it's a proof of unseriousness and lack of professionalism. How can you officially announce a candidate, include their name in the protocol of a governing coalition, and only then start measuring them to see if they still have electoral traction?
In the best case scenario, it seems like they threw a name out of desperation, just to be able to form the coalition, and then we'll see. Similar to what they did with Dr. Cătălin Cîrstoiu in Bucharest, and the former candidate for PMB recently drew conclusions from that adventure.
"I had a brief political experience related to supporting the candidacy for the Mayor of the Capital. In fact, a major lack of support from those who proposed me to take this step led to a failure. I understood that you can be removed from the arena without reason, without scruples, if you represent a potential danger. The political class is not prepared for the entry of a career person, with professional notoriety, with other ideas. The feeling of insecurity given by political oscillations is therefore natural and explains everything that is happening today."
And Mr. Antonescu also accused that he was left alone, and it remains to be seen if until the decisive measurements it will still be the same, meaning if he will be measured as an individual, or if he will even have explicit support from at least all leaders and communicators of the parties.
And if the polls show poorly?
Because this possibility also exists, especially in the case of a candidate who disappeared from the political spotlight for 10 years and with a past that is at least polarizing in relation to both electorates that should support him starting from May 4.
What will they do in such a situation? Will they change the candidate again? Only the candidate or also the election date to search for another option? Are they already looking for one? All of them? Ilie Bolojan and Kelemen Hunor don't seem to be playing both sides. For PSD, it's already a brand.
And actually, what is PSD's plan? To have its own candidate? It will be difficult to impose it on the coalition if they want to keep the position of prime minister.
The video about the electoral fraud committed by PSD through the donation of votes to AUR seems to suggest that Mr. Ciolacu would like to run again, as long as, isn't it, he didn't actually lose at the polls.
But how could PNL convince its electorate to vote for Marcel Ciolacu?
If the parties have different candidates, will the coalition hold up until the elections? And what will be the price of a governmental crisis when measures to stabilize the country's finances need to be taken?
These are some of the questions that keep not only Mr. Antonescu's common candidacy in doubt, which is ultimately primarily his and the parties that announced him's problem, but also the election date, which is everyone's problem.
Wind in the extremists' sails
But the most serious is the message of unprofessionalism and unseriousness with which PSD, especially, but implicitly the entire coalition, treats an essential process of democracy, the presidential elections. It generates immense distrust in everything these people affirm and plan.
The most serious crisis Romania is going through is not of an economic nature. It is a crisis of trust. The essential institutions of this country, from the presidential administration, government, and parliament, to justice and the CCR, are completely collapsed. And this is an essential cause of the vote on November 24.
Starting the reconstruction of trust, beginning with the value of the spoken word and the signature placed under a few lines, should have been a priority. However, the direction is the opposite.
And a country where the governors don't care about what the governed say is effectively an ungovernable country. And certainly one in which voluntary compliance can only be extremely low.
This chronicized distrust is, as I said, wind in the extremists' sails. If PSD calculates that by messing around with all sorts of lizards among the lines, they buy time for the extremist wave to melt, and then try another round with Marcel Ciolacu, they are making a mistake at least as big as the donation of votes on November 24. And the consequences will be among the most terrible for Romania.