Romania's 2024 elections: Bucharest mayoral race full up as PSD, PNL candidates join in

Former Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and energy minister Sebastian Burduja entered the race for the Bucharest mayor seat after the governing coalition withdrew its shared candidate, a move further fragmenting the race and raising questions over how the two parties currently in power will approach the presidential elections.

The plans of the governing coalition, made up of the Social Democrat Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), to have a shared candidate for the Bucharest mayor job were scrapped last week as Cătălin Cîrstoiu was withdrawn from the electoral race seven weeks before the local elections scheduled for June 9, the same day as the EU Parliament elections.