Ilie Bolojan assured that the liberal Crin Antonescu is still, from the perspective of the National Liberal Party, the coalition’s candidate for the 2025 presidential elections in Romania.
„From the PNL’s perspective, Mr. Crin Antonescu is the coalition’s candidate; it’s just a matter of formalization within the PNL. There is no issue within the PNL regarding the support for Mr. Crin Antonescu,” Bolojan said on Sunday, at Digi24.
The PNL leader stated that Antonescu is right in saying that the electoral calendar should be expedited to have the two rounds before Easter (April 20).
"Mr. Antonescu is right in this regard, if we want the presidential elections to be organized as soon as possible. We have 75 days to establish an electoral calendar before election day. Therefore, if we want the elections to be held by Easter, this means that the second round should be organized before Palm Sunday, on April 6. This implies that the first round would be on March 23, and next week the Government must issue the decision regarding the election calendar. Because time is pressing us significantly in this respect," Bolojan specified.
"If we don't do this, the elections will be postponed to May. The sooner we do this, the better. We need to avoid past mistakes," Bolojan added.
Kelemen Hunor, in turn, announced on Europa FM that a coalition meeting should take place in the middle of next week (considering that Monday and Tuesday - January 6 and 7 - are also days off).
The UDMR leader stated that he has discussed with Marcel Ciolacu and Ilie Bolojan, and a decision regarding the coalition meeting date will be made no later than Monday morning.
There is a need for some haste to avoid giving the impression that someone wants to postpone the elections.
Next, the leadership bodies of each party in the coalition need to validate Crin Antonescu's candidacy. "There is no issue at UDMR; we will do this soon, and I am confident that the other parties will do the same," Kelemen Hunor added.
For now, PSD, led by Marcel Ciolacu, has not expressed its position.
Ilie Bolojan also mentioned that he does not believe that Marcel Ciolacu will run in the presidential elections, invoking the coalition agreement that provides for a common candidate.
The law must be changed
The PNL leader pointed out, however, that the current electoral legislation does not allow an independent candidate, even if supported by parliamentary parties, to have representatives at polling stations, so it needs to be changed.
"The candidate should not only have representatives at the Central Electoral Bureau but also at all polling stations. If these legislative aspects are not addressed, it means that the elections will be postponed after Easter and will likely take place in May," the PNL leader stated, as quoted by News.ro.
Bolojan also considers Crin Antonescu's attitude towards the effective support of the campaign to be correct, as it is necessary for a candidate to have a campaign staff agreed upon with the parties, logistics provided to them, so that the candidacy is the priority. Additionally, the governing parties should also seriously address governance issues in parallel.
Crin Antonescu's Self-Suspension
Crin Antonescu announced on Saturday evening, in a show on Digi24, that he unilaterally suspends his candidacy on behalf of the coalition for the 2025 presidential elections.
"I declare this agreement suspended, and consequently, my status as a candidate. I do not hesitate, I do not back down, I am willing, but I believe we must be honorable and serious people," Antonescu said.
Nicusor Dan, the Mayor of Bucharest and an independent candidate in the 2025 presidential elections, stated that Crin Antonescu's announcement is "unreasonable," given the reasons cited.
"The leadership bodies of the parties are composed of individuals, most of whom are involved in administration as mayors, presidents of county councils, ministers. They all have year-end matters to settle, budgets to prepare. You can't ask these people to validate your candidacy from Christmas to New Year's, it's unreasonable," stated Nicusor Dan.