“There's no point in lying.” Clotilde Armand admits USR's “shameful score” in Bucharest and talks about a coalition with PNL, in a message that does not mention Ciucu

“PNL – the Bolojan wing is the winner and that's good for reforms,” ​​said Clotilde Armand on Monday morning, after the Bucharest mayoral elections, in a Facebook post, noting that “the PNL+USR coalition managed to gather almost 50% of the options of the people of Bucharest.”

The former mayoress of sector 1 in Bucharest admitted the poor score of the USR in Sunday's elections, in a post on Facebook in which she did not mention the winner of the election and the new mayor of Bucharest, Ciprian Ciucu.

“For the USR, this round of elections brings a loss that requires honest analysis. We have a shameful score… it makes no sense to lie to ourselves,” Clotilde Armand wrote on Monday.

“It is crucial to identify what messages did not get through, where mistakes were made and what structures suffered. Without true reflection, our future becomes impossible,” she added.

At the same time, Armand suggested an alliance with the PNL, noting that “the PNL+USR coalition managed to gather almost 50% of the options of Bucharest residents, a strong signal that extremism and toxic propaganda did not win in the Capital”.

She also congratulated the “Bolojan wing” of the PNL, although she did not mention Ciprian Ciucu.

“The score obtained by the PNL candidate is not only a numerical victory, but also a validation in the PNL of Mr. Bolojan, focused on order, reform and professional management. Personally, I am happy about it and I hope that the Thuma-Hellvig-Tuță grouping will become less and less vocal and influential in Bucharest. So, congratulations to Bolojan for last night's performance,” she said.

At the same time, Armand noted the low turnout, which he said he found “alarming.”

“By the end of the voting day, only 32.70% of Bucharest citizens with the right to vote participated, compared to 36.93% in last year's elections. This means that almost 70% of Bucharest citizens had no one to vote with for the General City Hall and chose to stay at home. When so many citizens choose not to express their option, a vacuum is created that can favor the phenomena we reject: populism and extremism,” Armand said.

USR candidate Cătălin Drula scored below expectations in the December 7 elections. He lost the race for Bucharest City Hall, ranking 4th, a long way from the first place, Ciprian Ciucu.

Drula recognized Ciucu's victory and praised him. In the campaign he had attacked him violently

In the first reaction after the results of the exit polls were displayed, Drula recognized the victory of Ciucu, a candidate he attacked virulently in the campaign.

“I have known Ciprian Ciucu for a long time, I wish him to put the skill he has into his work and find the resources to overcome the obstacles he will face and have courage, and he will have us, the USR, as a partner in all the projects for the Capital. I am glad that in this campaign we were able to talk about the less pleasant things that happened in Bucharest, because it is important to correct them for the future and here I am mainly referring to urban planning, the Urban Planning Code is in the final phase of adoption in the Parliament, which brings all building authorizations to the Capital City Hall, and the referendum voted by the citizens of Bucharest must be implemented urgently, it is also a milestone in the PNRR”, declared Cătălin Drula.

He stated that the first problem for Ciprian Ciucu is the budget for 2026.

“Also, the problem of the budget, the first problem that the future mayor of the Capital will have is the budget for 2026. There is a law submitted to the Parliament for the implementation of the referendum and we will support it with the same strength. We ask all parties to support this law. We will be partners in good projects for the city”, said Cătălin Drula.