The Levine effect: Maroon 5 concert may have changed the outcome of Bucharest District 1 mayor elections

Famous American pop rock band Maroon 5’s concert in Bucharest on Sunday evening, June 5, may have changed the outcome of the elections for mayor in the Romanian capital’s richest district. A local party’s delegates at the polling stations took off to see the concert and weren’t present at the vote count. The party’s candidate lost the mayor’s seat by a few hundred votes. French businesswoman Clotilde Armand, representing a newly founded political party – Save Bucharest Union (USB) – lost the elections for Bucharest District 1 mayor by a narrow margin, after leading in all the exit-polls made in the day of the elections. The results turned against her during the night, during the official vote count. Clotilde Armand and USB leader Nicusor Dan suggested that the turnaround, which favored the Social Democratic Party – PSD’s candidate Dan Tudorache, raised doubts related to the vote counting and registration process. Nicusor Dan said that Armand lost the elections in 36 polling stations where USB didn’t have delegates to oversee the vote counting process although she was ahead in the other 126 polling stations where USB was represented during the night. He added that USB initially had delegates in all the polling stations in District 1, but they were volunteers, not party members. “Some of them withdrew to go to yesterday’s concert,” Nicusor Dan said at B1 local TV station. Maroon 5 had their first concert in Romania, in Bucharest’s Constitution Square, on June 5. Some 30,000 Romanian fans went to the concert and sang the band’s famous hits together with their famous lead singer Adam Levine. By comparison, only 77,660 people voted in Bucharest’s District 1, little over a third of the registered voters. District 1 is Bucharest richest area, home to many expats who live in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Maroon 5 on Facebook)