The first heavy electoral decision of the future coalition: one or more candidates at the Capital City Hall

With a new poll on the horizon, the parties that will decide to form the following government will be forced, among the executive decisions to recover the economy, to make an electoral decision. However, the elections for the Capital City Hall risk creating the first test for the Coalition Union.

Nicușor Dan leaves free the mayor's chair of the photo capital inquam Photos / Archive

The elections for the Capital City Hall should be organized in September, that is, only a few months after the installation of the new government. Ion M. Ioniță points out that the future electoral battle comes after an election year in which the parties have spent their money, which is why the appetite of the voters will not be as great as before: “There are no choices, it does not set a trend. That is, when there were local elections (no – on June 9, 2024), yes, because it was the whole set of elections. Now there are elections only in Bucharest. Of course, Bucharest has the largest electoral basin. But I think the importance will be smaller than the normal choices we have in Bucharest when local elections are made”.

Last year, being in Coalition, PSD and PNL initially announced a common candidate for the Capital City Hall, on Cătălin Carstoiu, which they abandoned on the road to June 9. The two parties came overnight with two separate candidates: Gabriela Firea (PSD) and Sebastian Burduja (PNL). Both lost in front of the independent candidate Nicușor Dan.

With the same dilemma the two parties were confronted with the presidential elections. The canceled election, which was organized on November 24, brought the biggest tensions between the two political formations, the candidates being the former party chiefs Nicolae Ciuca (PNL) and Marcel Ciolacu (PSD). Subsequently, at the poll on May 4, the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition decided to nominate a common candidate, Crin Antonescu, who finally failed to rank in round 2.

“It will be a first test for the coalition that will be formed ”, points out the political scientist George Jiglău, who shows that the test could come “Maybe too quickly ”,
because it will pave the land for any tensions.

The favorable solution, the unique candidate

“Maybe, in fact, also in Nicușor Dan is the key. I mean he is the winner of the last two elections in Bucharest. He can invoke the fact that he is the one who has, say, the recipe for success at that time. And I think that even at the level of the electorate, in Bucharest, there is a wait for a mayor to be about that Nicușor Dan to continue what Nicușor Dan started. To have about the same style of leading the town hall. Especially since this has been legitimized by the last two victories.

And then the solution may be a unique candidate, but not from any of the parties. Because here it might be the difficulty to accept those from other parties on one coming from a certain party in this coalition ”, Politicologist George Jiglău believes.