Timișoara mayor launches bid for leader of Romanian reformist party USR

Dominic Fritz, mayor of the western Romanian city of Timișoara, announced his bid for the leadership of the Save Romania Union (USR) party in an internal message.

In the message, Fritz says that the party must move more to the center. He cited Nicușor Dan, the founder of USR, who nearly a decade ago also proposed a centrist vision and left the party after part of USR decided to position itself as a more progressive party during 2018 referendum on same-sex marriage.

“Nicușor Dan won with a centrist, pragmatic, and unifying electoral strategy, without abandoning his values. That’s what we also did to win mayoralties in towns and communes. He addressed all citizens, from all social categories, and mobilized those who want a modern Romania, not one that goes back in time; who want an open society and a functioning democracy, not isolation, hate, and division. And these voters are everywhere: in large cities, but also in smaller towns and villages,” Fritz told his colleagues, according to HotNews.

“What I propose to you is a strategic reset: a centrist party, in the strategic sense, that puts society in all its diversity at the core of its concerns. That addresses politically, through communication and solutions, large cities, small towns, and rural areas,” he added.

The mayor took over as interim leader of USR after former leader Elena Lasconi resigned following the first round of the presidential elections on May 4, when she finished in fifth place, with only a few percentage points. Lasconi, who returned as mayor of Campulung, accused Fritz, along with others, of betraying her in favor of then-presidential candidate Nicusor Dan. Dominic Fritz and other USR leadership members explained at the time that support for Elena Lasconi was withdrawn because she was not gaining in the polls and had no chance of reaching the second round.

Fritz is not the only candidate for the party leadership. On Monday, May 2, former Liberal labor minister Violeta Alexandru also announced her candidacy. Currently a senator, Alexandru has been a member of USR for about 10 months, after she left the party founded by former Liberal prime minister Ludovic Orban, Forța Dreptei. The USR leader at that time, Elena Lasconi, stated that Violeta Alexandru was “a great gain for our team.”