The Social Democratic Party (PSD) will take the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) to President Klaus Iohannis to suggest the appointment of a PSD member as the next prime minister, PSD national leader Liviu Dragnea told Romania TV private broadcaster on Sunday.
He added that PSD does not act on scenarios or polls, nor has it become complacent, also saying that PSD is now ruling out support for non-affiliated Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos.
“There is no such possibility,” Dragnea said in reply to a question about the extent of PSD’s support for the incumbent prime minister after this year’s general election.
“[Dacian Ciolos] is not an option. The answer is once again no. PSD will go before the President jointly with ALDE to recommend a prime minister who is a PSD member,” said the PSD national leader.
Dragnea mentioned that there is a difference between him and PM Ciolos. “There is a difference between me and him (…): Mr Ciolos is the prime minister now also because of me, but I am not the PSD national leader because of him.”
Asked if PSD makes another suggestion in case President Iohannis refuses the party’s initial proposal, Dragnea replied in the negative. “No, it doesn’t. But first we have to get there. There are still enough months and I do want us to concentrate on our government programme, how to unveil it, as well as on organisation and wait and see the reaction of the President to the election’s results. I do not want us to build scenarios on hypotheses. We should see how many votes we garner. We are now discussing relative to some polls, but we do not become complacent, we do not see us the winners, and that is why I do not want to go any further with scenarios; we will absolutely not make a second proposal,” said Dragnea.
“We want to renew party lists with many young people, more women”
National leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea said Friday that a convention of the PSD National Executive Committee in Vaslui had discussed the criteria for building the lists of candidates for this autumn’s general election.
“Before the end of August, I will meet the leaders of the PSD county organisations and those from Bucharest City. We are talking about a renewal with many young and well-prepared people as well as well-prepared ladies. One of our main objectives is to provide professionals for the candidate lists so as to increase the efficiency of Romania’s Parliament,” Dragnea told a news conference in Vaslui.
The PSD branch leaders will have until mid-August to come up with proposals for general election candidates.
Dragnea said the PSD National Executive Committee also discussed the future actions and organisational schedule for the time until the start of the general election campaigning.
He added that in order to be placed on the PSD tickets, a candidate will have to meet certain eligibility criteria.
“Parliamentary activity matters a lot as a criterion for those who held or still hold a seat in Parliament. I know that is hard work, from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon. No matter how hard the work is, we have to show up for work since we have decided to become MPs. The first criterion is attendance of committee and plenary sessions. The second criterion is involvement of each parliamentarian in Parliament’s activities; likewise, organisational activities. Nonetheless, on the days they are not at Parliament, the MPs should be in the counties that elected them and trusted them with their mandate. Fourthly, professional training of each MP matters for a good performance in Parliament. Professionals will be provided for the PSD tickets. We know the membership estimates for each specialist committees of Parliament and we will make sure we provide very well trained specialists who will contribute toward excellent legislation,” said Dragnea, mentioning to the point the judiciary and the budget and finance committees.
Dragnea also said that support from the party’s organisations is equally important.
“It is important because I do not endorse people who have no backing inside the branches. And also important is the possibility of the candidates bringing new voters as a result of running,” said Dragnea.
He said that unlike in the previous elections, this year all the candidates will be from their respective counties. “I will not dispatch candidates from Bucharest to any county,” Dragnea assured.
