Political scientist, warm reaction to the victories of Ciucu and Ciolacu: The first major defeat of President Nicușor Dan
Nicușor Dan, after voting in the elections in Bucharest 2025. More than 1.8 million Bucharest residents are called to the polls, Sunday, December 7, to vote in the elections for the Capital City Hall Photo: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
The political scientist Cristian Preda commented on the results obtained by the liberal Ciprian Ciucu at the Capital City Hall and by the social democrat Marcel Ciolacu at the head of the CJ Buzău.
The professor of political science suggests that the elections at the end of the year redraw the political map, and the victories scored by PNL and PSD through Ciucu and Ciolacu are a success for the alliance that supported Crin Antonescu in the presidential election in May.
“Ciolacu's victory in Buzău and Ciucu's in Capital are a rematch of the camp that supported Crin Antonescu in the 1st round of the presidential elections, against N. Dan. It is, therefore, the first major defeat of the president. Six months after taking office, it is embarrassing to lose in this way”, commented Preda, in a warm reaction on the Comunitatea Liberală website.
In the opinion of the political scientist, PSD's strategy in Bucharest was missed, after betting on Băluță once the party led by Sorin Grindeanu “imposed a ban on coalition partners”.
Preda noted that it is not clear whether the PSD leader really believed in the strategy or just let it fall apart. “PSD has been a confused party for many years,” Preda pointed out.
On the right side, the politologist made a severe diagnosis: “USR is in crisis”, pointing out that Dominic Fritz should clarify whether he wants to remain a party of 10% or tends to more. “Does he want to bring new people to his side, including personalities of public life, or does he tend towards cartelization with the other political forces in the quadrilateral?” Preda also said.
The political science professor emphasized in his analysis that Ana Ciceală, supported by SENS, contributed to the fragmentation of Nicușor Dan's electorate into three and tipped the balance “very clearly” in favor of Ciprian Ciucu.
George Simion's party repeated the scheme from the presidential elections, by withdrawing weaker candidates to strengthen the favorite from within, Preda appreciates.
“Like there, AUR took second place. But not in the second round, because there is no such thing in the election for the mayor's office, but in the first. Someone told me, the other day, that the only situation in which the PNL and PSD would accept the return to the election of mayors in two rounds would have been the election of Anca Alexandrescu. Maybe, in fact, it would be better not to wait for a catastrophe of this kind to make a basic democratic gesture”, said the political scientist.
He emphasized that both Nicușor Dan and Klaus Iohannis normalized what happened in the electoral campaign for the partial elections: the lack of a face-to-face debate, appreciating that it is a “slippage” from democracy.
“For different reasons: Iohannis was arrogant, N. Dan – just cautious, hoping that way he would have more post-election influence. He didn't get it even after becoming president,” Preda emphasized.
In the opinion of Preda, who publicly supported the USR candidate, Cătălin Drula, he believes that Ciprian Ciucu's victory in Sunday's elections will make cooperation between liberals and usrists “very difficult”, which would fragment the right and “PSD could remain the most influential political actor”.
