Cătălin Drulă wants to apply for the City Hall and also relies on the support of a party where he received stinging

USR deputy Cătălin Drulă declared on Wednesday evening, at Digi 24, that he wants to take Nicușor Dan's place at the City Hall, relying on the support from the party led by Dominic Fritz, but also from PNL.

“I want to apply. I also told the president about this intention. We still have some stages in USR, our internal procedures, but more than that, we would like to have a wider candidacy in Bucharest, with a common candidate from PNL and USR. Maybe with other smaller parties, which I think about the same, I think it would be an important signal to gather these energies behind a candidate.

Former USR leader announced on Wednesday that he was seen with the president and talked about continuing projects for Bucharest, but also about implementing the referendum made by Dan on the division of money between the General City Hall and the sector.

Subsequently, Nicușor Dan specified during the press conference held at the Cotroceni Palace that he spoke with Drulă in the context in which elections are to be organized for the position left vacant with his departure from the Bucharest City Hall.

“We discussed with Mr. Drulă many things in particular to the transport in Bucharest. You know that he is passionate about this matter. We also have some elections that probably at today's coalition meeting, you may know better than me what was decided, he was going to decide on the date on which the elections in Bucharest will be,” Nicuşor Dan said.

Irony from liberals

Two liberals had ironic reactions about the discussions they had and Dan. Ciprian Ciucu, the current mayor of Sector 6, had a short message on Facebook: “Subtle. Success!”.

Asked by the commentary of PNL's first vice-president, Drulă said he could not “make hermeneutics” for the public message sent by Ciucu and that he would like the Liberal leader to support his candidacy for future local elections.

On the other hand, the leader of PNL Bucharest, Sebastian Burduja, a former candidate for the Capital City Hall, said that it is “Great Effer (already) for the City Hall”, on Wednesday, in the context of the meeting between Nicușor Dan and Cătălin Drua and the statements made by the president about the USR deputy.

“Few, too few leaders with vision and solutions for Bucharest. Again and again, the Dambovita policy becomes a sad political ballet competition,” wrote the former Minister of Energy.

Burduja, who in 2024 was ranked 4th in the elections for the Capital City Hall, believes that “the fragmentation of the pro-European vote” can lead to winning the poll by gold.

“Great attention to the fragmentation of the pro-European vote! Gold has taken 30% in the second round in Bucharest. In a single round, 20-25% can mean winning the General City Hall. It would be correct to have internal discussions in each party, then in the ruling coalition, and the candidate with the highest chance to be truly supported, to have time to have time, to have time to” Sebastian Burduja.

When will there be local elections in Bucharest

The exact date for the elections for the Capital City Hall is to be established by the government coalition. According to Drulă, the election could take place in November 2025.

“This is how I understand from my colleagues. We hope to have the Government Decision – for those who do not know, the date of the elections is established by the Government Decision – to close this chapter, to have a mayor with full mandate, although partially – that is, we will have time -term elections in 2028 and this autumn – we can take a new job,”