Romanian center-right opposition parties form alliance for upcoming elections

Romanian opposition parties Forța Dreptei, PMP, and USR recently announced that they have formed the United Right Alliance for the electoral year ahead.

“This Alliance will remove this regime of lies, poverty, and injustice from power in 2024," declared USR president Cătălin Drulă at a press conference also attended by Ludovic Orban, head of Forța Dreptei, and Eugen Tomac, leader of PMP. "This alliance represents our commitment to rebuilding Romania and an honest alternative to the corrupt PSD-PNL government and the extremism of AUR," he added, cited by Biziday.

Forța Dreptei is a breakaway group made up of former PNL members who opposed the present governing coalition with the Social Democrats. PMP, another center-right party founded by allies of former president Traian Basescu, currently has no representatives in the legislative. The largest party in the new alliance is the liberal reformist USR party.

"This is truly an important day for Romania, for millions of Romanians who were waiting for a message of unity. We are signaling unity through the United Right Alliance. The real opposition is here and is ready for the greatest challenges of 2024. I firmly believe that the United Right will win the European elections and will achieve a very good score in the local elections," said Eugen Tomac. "Enough of choosing between two evils. I don’t think we should let Romanians choose between two evils. [...] Today, we are building the good solution,” added Ludovic Orban.

In the most recent INSCOP poll for parliamentary elections, PSD would obtain 30% of the votes in an election. PNL and AUR would be in the second and third places, with a difference of 0.6% between them, while USR would gather 12%, a decrease from previous polls. PMP would obtain 1.3%, and Forța Dreptei 0.6%.

The current mayor of the Romanian capital, Nicușor Dan, who won during the last election after being backed by PNL and USR, will be supported for a new mandate as general mayor by the United Right Alliance. The announcement was made by USR president Cătălin Drulă, who noted that Nicușor Dan will not be conditioned to join any of the three parties. PNL, on the other hand, asked Dan, currently an independent, to join the party to obtain its support.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)