Scandal in PDL: Cezar Preda demands Sever Voinescu’s resignation

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Democrat-Liberal first vice president accuses Voinescu of betrayal.

Ex-vice president was quick to respond: ‘Who is Cezar Preda?’  - he asks.

A large-scale scandal is gaining size in PDL ahead of the meeting set to establish the detail of the next congress when the current leadership of the party could be replaced. While the ‘intellectuals’ group increases pressure on the Democrat Liberals’ leader Vasile Blaga, the old guard keeps up and reacts in an extremely tough manner. It is also the case of first Vice-President Cezar Preda, who, Tuesday night, accused Sever Voinescu of having betrayed the party, explaining that, during the campaign for the parliamentary election on December 9, he supported the candidacy of ex-PDL MP Maria Stavrositu even after she had decided to run for PPDD. In the context, Preda claims the only thing Voinescu could demand – Sever Voinescu has recently asked that PDL should hold its congress urgently – is to be ousted himself. ‘Why do we need six months to remove all those traitors who campaigned against the party and for our opponents? This is the right answer to the questions asked by traitors or by which who were not committed to this difficult battle on December 9,’ Preda told RTV. Sever Voinescu replied quickly. ‘Who is Cezar Preda?’ – the former PDL vice president ironically asks in a social network post. ‘I have known many people since I entered politics. Some politicians – he is not one of the. Some administration people – he is not one of them. A few orators – he is not one of them. A few lawmakers – he is not one of those either. Please help me remember who this Cezar Preda is. (…)’ Voinescu states. On the other hand, several PDL figures have positioned themselves on Voinescu’s side. One of them is MEP Cristian Preda, who, on his blog, expresses his solidarity with him and notes that ‘PDL does not need a scapegoat’.  In a later interview for ‘Revista 22’, the MEP says that, after the PDL and ARD failure, in the parliamentary election on December 9, a Convention should be organised without delay, because waiting for another six months would be just a gift to the current Government. In addition, he asks that the same ‘demanding’ attitude that was taken against Emil Boc after the June local election should be also applied in the case of the current party leaders. Democrat-Liberal Teodor Baconschi also stated his solidarity with Sever Voinescu yesterday, pointing the finger at Cezar Preda, who, he said, had always had a score below the party average. ‘After the local election, when PDL had set the goal of obtaining 25 per cent and got 23 per cent instead, there was a blitz Convention and Emil Boc had to go, although he had regained Cluj by a narrow difference, indeed. After the parliamentary election, when the declared target had been 30 per cent, ARD obtained about 16 per cent. Between the local and the general election, PDL lost 1 million voters,’ Baconschi said.

On a more pacifying tone, ex-Culture Minister Theodor Paleologu says the worst thing that could now happen in PDL are ‘scores to settle and exclusions’. ‘It’s the road to perdition,’ Paleologu writes on his socialising page. Former PDL President Emil Boc also sent a message to his party colleagues yesterday: ‘During periods of opposition you need to gather rather than exclude people. (…). I would like to remind my colleagues that the enemies are outside the party, not inside the party.’ MEP Theodor Stolojan (photo) on the other hand seems to be on the side of Cezar Preda. Yesterday, he said ‘PDL had been knocked out in the parliamentary election’ and that the recovery of the party ‘after such a blow does not happen, as some may think, overnight, after a week or a month.’ ‘The ones now speaking are generally people who have been in PDL for a year or two and who now want a Convention as soon as possible’, Stolojan said. He believes PDL will recover, ‘but not as fast’ as some of the Democrat Liberals would like it to. ‘It’s a process that will take a while.’

Agreeing on a presidential candidate, another PDL issue

The PDL inside war is not the only problem the party has. Several Democrat Liberal voices as well as former alliance (Civic Force) are asking that a candidate of the Right should be decided upon for the presidential election in 2014 in the upcoming period. PDL Vice President Traian Igas thinks a potential such candidate could be Emil Boc, ‘a person of outstanding moral integrity, who enjoys appreciation in Europe and EPP’. Civic Force President Mihai Razvan Ungureanu was saying on Monday that a candidate for president should be agreed upon by the Right as soon as possible, but avoided to say if he would consider being that candidate.