Romania’s ruling coalition defers nomination for Bucharest mayor elections

Romania’s Liberal Party (PNL) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) have conducted independent polls to evaluate the support their potential candidates enjoy among the electorate of Bucharest and will compare their results on March 11, when the ruling coalition formed by the two partners are supposed to announce their candidate for Bucharest mayor position.

The ballot in Bucharest has emerged as a major battle ahead of the general elections in December. But it is also a test for the ruling coalition, which runs an awkward strategy of joining forces in some of this year’s ballots while competing against each other in some other ballots.

Amid this background, March 11 may be another missed deadline for the ruling coalition to announce a joint candidate. Not running a joint poll to have fully comparable results is an indicator of the trust the two parties have in each other.

The Liberals will test the support for minister of digitalization Sebastian Burduja and former football player Ionut Lupescu.

In their turn, the Social Democrats will choose between former Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and district mayor Daniel Baluta.

In the end, the two parties may have to choose between Gabriela Firea and Sebastian Burduja. By choosing Burduja, the ruling coalition may try to avoid making real estate development the major topic for the elections, but this comes at the risk of having a less notorious candidate (compared to Gabriela Firea).

Incumbent mayor Nicusor Dan, supported by the reformist party USR and their center-right allies, is the frontrunner, with Gabriela Firea following not far, according to the polls.

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