Someone is mocking Marcel Ciolacu. Using the mediocrity of the social-democratic leader, his indecision regarding the presidential candidacy, and the fear of losing his privileges, they pushed him into a labyrinth that will lead him anywhere but to Cotroceni Palace.
For a long time, we haven’t seen such perplexity and frustration in the PSD’s political communication as after the shocking decision of the Constitutional Court that „rewrote” the Constitution.
In fact, overnight, the social democrats lost everything they had built with effort and diligence over the past four years to get rid of the ghost of Dragnea and the image of a party that was considered unacceptable both domestically and internationally.
Ciolacu and his people were deceived so much that even now, three days after the Constitutional Court decision, there are party leaders whispering in the corridors, some even at the microphones of public events held these days, asking: "Well, how? Wasn't Șoșoacă the big evil in our politics? Wasn't everyone in the democratic world horrified by her extremism, antisemitism, and pro-Putin stance? We solved the problem. Why are you upset? We expected applause."
For four years, Marcel Ciolacu and the PSD parliamentarians watched with arms crossed the extremist, antisemitic, and pro-Putin manifestations of George Simion and Diana Șoșoacă.
Many of them thought more about how to benefit from the social media popularity of the two, rather than worry about the political attacks on national minorities, the glorification of totalitarian regimes, and the promotion of threatening messages against democracy and the safety of Romanian citizens.
An offer that can't be refused
With 50 days before the elections, the close associates of the PSD leader found the miraculous solution to make Marcel Ciolacu the President of Romania - to tilt the political competition ground so that in the presidential final, he would face George Simion, the only scenario in which Ciolacu would have a chance to move to Cotroceni Palace.
I don't know who came up with the plan to block Diana Șoșoacă, in what "reflection group" it was created, but I know it was launched in the political underground at least two weeks before Dan Nica let the cat out of the bag on Antena3.
Although a large part of the public tends to believe that such conspiracies are orchestrated by super agents from secret services, who make calculations, squeeze artificial intelligence applications, test solutions in focus groups, similar to launching a new product on the market, I can say from the journalistic experience accumulated over the years that the situation is much more prosaic, and there are no bigger conspirators than the politicians themselves who rely on their own interests, ambitions, and instincts.
I tend to believe, and it's just a personal opinion, I have no evidence to support this, the statements being based on a few discussions with politicians before the "plan" was put into action, that everything was devised by a group of current and especially former senior party parliamentarians gravitating around Marcel Ciolacu, who made him an "offer he couldn't refuse."
Some of them, well-connected, "pushed him up the stairs," compromising his entire electoral campaign, aiming to solve their personal problems.
Betrayals, desertions, transfers
These days, various political, financial, and military groups are clashing in Romanian society. The era of Iohannis is ending, and a new one is beginning.
The entire state structure will be modified according to the new president, and behind each candidate with chances, a number of such powerful and influential groups have aligned.
But these conglomerates of individuals are not frozen, they are fluid, there are betrayals, desertions, transfers from one camp to another, day by day, depending on the vision, information, or strategies of the involved actors, who believe and hope they can play an important role in securing the victory of one candidate or another, thus paving their way to the pinnacle of power.
In the political arena now, there are three major groups: the one behind Ciolacu, the one behind Ciucă, and the one behind Elena Lasconi.
In my opinion, Geoană and Simion have lost the game. In the current context, they will not succeed in reaching the second round.
The major problem of Romanian democracy is that it does not yet have enough defense layers to prevent such maneuvers from endangering the rule of law, destroying institutions, shattering the justice system, and jeopardizing the lives of citizens.
A dangerous precedent
In the case of Șoșoacă, it is hard to imagine a political party rewriting the Constitution, just like in a dictatorial state, and society lacking the necessary tools to react and hold the conspirators accountable.
Many people do not realize the danger, but the precedent set by limiting the fundamental rights of a Romanian citizen offers a majority of the Constitutional Court the opportunity to disregard the election results and arbitrarily appoint a president, thus nullifying the fundamental element of the democratic process - the vote.
The only ray of light in all this chaos of interests, confrontations, and betrayals is that the vote still matters, and the victory or defeat of those involved in this struggle depends on each of us to make it as fair as possible.