Romania: Social Democrats surprise legislative elections

It is a rather unexpected result which was unveiled in Romania during the legislative elections organized this Sunday. The Social Democrats (PSD, opposition) created a surprise, coming first, according to initial partial results. Removed from power at the end of 2019 against a backdrop of massive protest in the street and criticism of Brussels targeting “attacks on the rule of law”, the PSD won 30% of the vote, according to these results relating to the counting of just over half of the polling stations. The liberal party (PNL) of the pro-European Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, given the winner by the pre-electoral polls, for its part obtained only 25.5% of the votes. However, this formation intends to remain in power, by allying itself with the reformists of the USR-Plus alliance, credited with nearly 15% of the vote.

Before the election, this was the scenario put forward by the head of state Klaus Iohannis, from the PNL. He has several times ruled out allowing the PSD to return to business during his second term, which runs until 2024. Only two other parties have crossed the 5% mark to enter Parliament: a nationalist formation close to the Church Orthodox, AUR (9%), and the Magyar minority party, UDMR (6%). The latter, who has already supported center-right governments in the past, said he was ready to form an alliance with the PNL after Sunday’s vote.

Abtention record

“I await the resignation of Mr. Orban, this is what the Romanians asked through their vote”, reacted the leader of the PSD Marcel Ciolacu after learning of the advance of his training. “The results of the ballot will only be known after the vote count”, moderated Ludovic Orban, assuring that negotiations for the formation of the future government would begin soon. More than 18 million voters were expected to vote, but, the result of the combined effect of the resurgence of Covid-19 and voter fatigue, only one in three Romanians voted, a record abstention for legislative elections, according to electoral authority.

Corruption, patronage, arrogance: the recriminations of voters towards political parties are numerous. “I have no hope of change,” retired electrician Gheorghe Preda told Agence France-Presse after voting. According to him, for 30 years, the two main political parties, PSD and PNL, have taken turns in power and “forget their promises” immediately after the end of the campaign.

The diaspora mobilized

While analysts had warned against a weak mobilization, calls for votes were not lacking: the philosopher and writer Mihai Sora, 104, had from the outset encouraged Romanians aged “18 to 100” to go to the polls. This active activist for independent justice added that he himself “voted with confidence and hope, thinking of (my) country and the future of its inhabitants”.

Adina Ionescu, 42, who accompanied her teenage daughters to the ice rink, assured that she would accomplish her electoral duty at the end of the day, expressing the wish of a “government made up of young people, concerned about the environment and the good. to be Romanians “. Abroad, where the polling stations had opened on Saturday, more than 260,000 people cast their vote, twice as many as in the previous election in 2016. Young and active for the most part, these voters are generally in favor of the USR-Plus alliance and its program advocating a cleansing of the political class. Driven by poverty, 4 million Romanians have emigrated in recent years, particularly to Western Europe, in search of better paid jobs.