PNL’s District 1, Mehedinti and Dambovita branches were dissolved and their presidents dismissed. At the same time, Gigi Becali’s candidacy in District 6 was validated.
Last Friday was the “day of the long knives” for PNL. The candidacies for the general elections scheduled in December were finalized and PNL President Crin Antonescu took “drastic” measures on this occasion. Despite the fact that USL officially launched its candidates during a large rally last Wednesday, the lists were far from complete. Final battles are still being waged within PSD and PNL. PNL Senator Ioan Ghise is a good example in this sense. The Senator was struck from and then re-introduced on the lists in a matter of hours, and will eventually run for a new mandate in Brasov County.Last Friday was the day in which Gigi Becali (photo) joined PNL and his candidacy in District 6 was approved. Becali attacked former premier and former PNL President Calin Popescu Tariceanu, his (and Crin Antonescu’s) main opponent, by pointing out that he married several times. Becali also threatened to make “revelations” about District 1 Mayor Andrei Chiliman, another one of Antonescu’s political opponents. Referring to Becali, Antonescu stated that the businessman was welcomed within PNL for the votes that he would bring to USL, not for financial reasons, pointing out that he will pay only for his own campaign and the party has not taken a single RON from him.
Antonescu decapitates District 1 branch
Also on Friday, PNL President Crin Antonescu asked for the leaderships of the party’s District 1, Mehedinti and Dambovita branches to be dismissed. His proposals were adopted by vote and were re-confirmed during the meeting of the National Executive Committee, the party’s supreme body. Consequently, Vlad Moisescu was removed from the leadership of PNL District 1. Crin Antonescu revealed during a press conference that Moisescu was the person who was referring to the USL leadership as “an organized crime group” as shown in the transcripts of the phone conversations that former ministers Ioan Rus and Victor Paul Dobre had. PNL Bucharest President Eugen Nicolaescu will be interim leader of PNL District 1. The leaders of the party’s Mehedinti and Dambovita branches were dismissed too, Antonescu accusing them of “inefficiency, poor performance, and inability to attract important people in those counties.” At the same time, District 6 Mayor Rares Manescu was appointed coordinator of PNL’s national campaign. Likewise, the PNL President announced that derogations from the party’s statute were made for Daniel Barbu, Vlad Nistor, Sorin Rosca Stanescu, Sorin Iliesiu, Rares Bogdan and Gigi Becali because their party membership did not meet the duration criteria that would have allowed them to run for MP seats. Antonescu also announced that Honorius Prigoana is not on the lists, however other former Democrat-Liberals, such as MPs Ovidiu Marian and Mariana Popa, will run in the general elections as PNL candidates.Cristian Topescu will no longer be backed for another term in office as senator. On the other hand, Petre Roman will run for a Lower Chamber seat in an electoral college in Brasov.Referring to former premier Calin Popescu Tariceanu, Crin Antonescu announced that he was allowed to run in an electoral college in District 1, despite the fact that the college had been allocated to Conservative Party candidates. Former PNTCD premier Victor Ciorbea will run in District 2 for a seat in the Lower Chamber.
Moisescu fights back
Former PNL District 1 leader Vlad Moisescu stated on Friday that Antonescu accused him, during the party’s central leadership meeting, of “betraying” the party and of siding with Traian Basescu during the impeachment referendum. Referring to his dismissal, Moisescu stated during a press conference that the decision affects him personally only to the extent to which it affects PNL interests. “I’m afraid today’s decision is not good for us from the point of view of the battle ahead of us and, unfortunately, instead of focusing on USL’s offer for Romanians we busy ourselves with political wars and infighting. We are promising Romanians that we are the people that will unite them yet we are dividing the oldest party in Romania. We are talking about sheep and Gigi Becali instead of talking about the economy and jobs,” he said. According to his statements, the hotheads that decapitated the leadership of PNL’s District 1 branch should focus more on solutions for the Romanian society.
Chiliman’s accusations
District 1 Mayor Andrei Chiliman told Antonescu that his loss of credibility in the eyes of Romanians “cannot be compensated by Becalizing PNL or by the platonic satisfactions” he would obtain by “slugging it out” with “the party’s undesirables.” Andrei Chiliman stated that PNL President Crin Antonescu helped Traian Basescu and PNL’s opponents by decapitating the leadership of PNL’s District 1 branch and by accepting George Becali’s party membership. He claimed that the actions that the PNL President took on Friday are motivated solely by his “petty political ambitions.”
