Bucharest’s residents will elect a new mayor on Sunday, June 5, when local elections will take place all throughout Romania.

The Bucharest mayor seat is the most important position in the country’s local administration, as the person holding this position has the power to make decisions that impact more than 2 million people who live in Romania’s capital. The mayor also manages the biggest local budget in Romania, some EUR 930 million (the level budgeted for 2016).

Whoever will get elected mayor will have a difficult mission, as Bucharest’s residents expect solutions to the congested traffic in the city, the dirt on streets and pollution, the bad state of the local infrastructure, and the lack of parking places. Reducing the corruption in the local administration is also something that the people would expect from the new mayor, surveys show.

So, who are the people with the highest chances to win this position in Sunday’s elections?

Former journalist and TV presenter Gabriela Firea continues to lead in the race for Bucharest, according to the polls. Firea, who is also the spokeswoman of the Social Democratic Party – PSD, Romania’s biggest political party, may well be Bucharest’s next mayor, if nothing spectacular happens in the two days that remain until the elections.

Some 45% of the Bucharesters who are determined to vote on Sunday would vote for Gabriela Firea, according to a survey by local research company IRES made for Digi 24 news station.

Mathematician Nicusor Dan, a well-known social activist and the leader of the Save the Bucharest Union – USB, is second in the polls, with 25% of the vote intentions. Former journalist and TV presenter Robert Turcescu, who represents former President Traian Basescu’s Popular Movement Party – PMP, ranks third, with 11%, and lawyer and former justice minister Catalin Predoiu, the National Liberal Party – PNL’s candidate, is fourth, with 10% of the vote intentions, according to the IRES survey.

However, only 62% of those questioned in this research said that they were almost sure they would go and vote on Sunday while 10% said they wouldn’t vote for sure. That leaves about 28% who were undecided, most of whom may also go to vote.

The only way Firea may lose the elections in Bucharest on Sunday is if two or more of her opponents decide to join forces. Nicusor Dan, who poses as the man who fights the system and the big parties, has called on Catalin Predoiu to withdraw from the race and allow PNL’s supporters to vote for him. Predoiu asked Nicusor Dan to do the same. They are both fighting for the anti-PSD votes.

However, neither of them responded positively to the invitation to withdraw from the race. Nicusor Dan has declined because he ranks better in the polls while the liberal party is desperate to have its own candidate in the elections for the biggest city in Romania, a candidate which they found after many searches and efforts.

Nicusor Dan’s party also ordered a separate poll to be made by international research group TNS. He hoped that such a survey would convince Predoiu and the liberals to back him in the elections.

This poll also shows Gabriela Firea in front, some 34% of those who said they would surely or probably go to vote saying that they would vote for her. Nicusor Dan is second, with some 16% of the possible votes, while Catalin Predoiu comes third, with 11%, and Robert Turcescu is fourth, with 5.4% of the vote intentions.

This year’s local elections only have one round, which means that whoever gets most votes on Sunday wins. A two-round election would have probably changed the equation, as it would have allowed the liberal votes to consolidate for whoever of the candidates would have made it to the second round against Firea.

Local elections in Romania: 12 candidates in the race for Bucharest mayor's seat

editor@romania-insider.com