Anamaria Gavrilă’s withdrawal from the presidential race in favor of George Simion, announced in the name of Călin Georgescu, but in his complete absence and silence, a withdrawal announced at the last moment before her name would remain definitively on the ballot, suggests that Simion has promised everything sovereign.
Without this negotiation, it is hard to understand why Mrs. Gavrilă kept the doubt until the end, even after Mr. Simion’s candidacy became final.
What did he promise? In principle, Mr. Georgescu can have only one major interest: not to go to jail, and for that, he needs to remain relevant. To remain relevant, he must be the sole, absolute leader of the extremists.
That Mr. Georgescu does not think about withdrawal in post and prayer united with God is also shown by the call made by his supporters for a large demonstration on his day, on March 26.
It is very interesting that Simion, who recently said he would no longer organize any protests because people can become uncontrollable, is now also calling for this celebration in the streets.
Did Mr. Simion promise that in case of victory he would resign so that new presidential elections could be organized and Călin Georgescu could run again? Quite hard to believe, but not impossible, because Mr. Simion is in a dead-end situation.
Claudiu Târziu is pulling the rug from under him, Gigi Becali is chipping away at him thoroughly in his characteristic style. If he was not now in the position of the sole heir, it is unlikely that he would have taken on the presidential elections at the head of the party.
And so he is somewhat in an extension, in a kind of political credit, as long as in the previous elections, despite all the infusion of PSD votes, he only managed to get fourth place.
He is a defeated candidate obliged to run and reach the final. Otherwise, he is finished.
On the other hand, whatever Simion promises now, with the knife to the bone, what guarantees are there that he will respect? Absolutely none, of course. In political terms, from the moment he reaches the second round, Simion will be crowned the new leader of the extremists, and his first interest will be to get rid of his rival.
For Georgescu to believe in the promise that Simion will resign or pardon him would mean either to be excessively naive or to have a strong leverage of blackmail over him.
But there may be another rational explanation for why Simion remains the sole candidate of the georgist extremists. The fear that in the absence of this concentration, the one who could massively take over the remaining orphaned base could be Victor Ponta.
And for Georgescu, Victor Ponta is an even bigger problem than Simion, currently dependent on him. Ponta's rise would leave no space for Georgescu.
What we see in the extremist area has nothing to do with any political project of national interest. With Romania. It has to do with the political survival struggle of Simion and the freedom of Georgescu, with the struggle for supremacy in the volatile area dependent on negative emotion, messianism, and fanatical submission.
A battle far from being settled. Let's not forget that for now Georgescu has not laid his hand on Simion's head. He has not designated him as the rightful successor. No one should forget that without him, it is not possible.