The Interim chair of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Bucharest, Cristian Busoi, was elected as the leader of the organization with 647 votes, without having any rival. Busoi thanked to the approx. 100 Liberals who stayed at the meeting, since most of them left after they voted.
“We had 726 ballots. 79 of them were canceled because the appropriate voting procedure wasn’t accomplished, so we have 647 validly expressed votes, which are not canceled, all of them supporting Mr. Busoi’s candidacy. Therefore, we congratulate Mr. Cristian Busoi – the old and the new President of PNL Bucharest” announced the First Vice President of PNL, Teodor Atanasiu.
Cristian Busoi was the only candidate for the President of PNL Bucharest, most of the Liberals leaving the meeting after they voted.
“First of all, I thank to you, those who bravely resisted until the end of the counting of the results for President. We go forward with confidence, with unity, with balance, with a team, to convince people in Bucharest that PNL has the best solutions for Bucharest and for Romania” Cristian Busoi stated in front of the approx. 100 Liberal delegates who remained in the room.
On Saturday, PNL Bucharest Coordination Council was gathered at the Palace of Parliament to elect the new leadership of the PNL Bucharest branch.
Only Cristian Busoi enrolled in the race for the leadership of the largest Liberal organization; besides, he is the leader of the organization since July, 2016. He was elected as the leader of PNL Bucharest after Catalin Predoiu quitted after the disastrous result of only 11.2 percent, in the local elections of 2016, when he ran for the Bucharest General Mayor.
Besides, Cristian Busoi also didn’t reached much better electoral results since he took the leadership of the organization. In the parliamentary elections of December 2016, PNL hardly reached 11.97% of the votes in Bucharest, being the third in the ranking of the most underperforming PNL branches in the country.
Being deemed as a close person to President Klaus Iohannis, Cristian Busoi stated that he takes into account to run for the President of the party in the Congress of June 17 “if other colleagues in the country will also prove that they are open”. Until now, those who officially entered into the race for the PNL presidency are Ludovic Orban and Catalin Predoiu.
Busoi doesn’t rule out to run for the PNL President; a decision is going to be made after Easter
The PNL Bucharest leader Cristian Busoi also stated on Saturday that he hasn’t made a decision yet if he will run for the President of the party, mentioning that he will decide what to do to this end after the Easter holiday.
“I cannot make an announcement and I haven’t made a decision to announce today. However, today is an essential step regarding a possible candidacy, because I said I believe it’s normal, when you aim to be the president of a party, to validate your support in the organization you were a part of, first (…) The moment of such a discussion has not came yet, but it will come soon. After the Easter holiday, no later than May 2, this thing will be also clarified” Busoi stated.
He pointed out that a successful candidacy must be supported by a team of Liberals from all the areas.
“A program has also to be conceived, but the most important thing is that a successful candidacy must be supported by a team that gathers colleagues from the former PNL, colleagues from the former PDL, local representatives, parliamentarians, colleagues from Transylvania, where there are the most performing organizations, as well as from other areas of the country”, the Liberal stated.
Asked if he is in the stage of preparing his candidacy for the PNL leadership, Busoi answered: “We are in the stage of thinking, of conceiving a program, conceiving a team”.
“The time of the great providential personalities has passed. The cooperation with Ciolos, unconvincing”
Busoi stated at the start of the meeting for electing the leadership of the branch that “the time of the great providential personalities has passed” and he reviewed the reasons that led to the failure in the elections of 2016, including the cooperation with Dacian Ciolos.
“The time of the great providential personalities has passed. PNL needs street work performed by the activists and a good communication in the Media. PNL Bucharest’s situation is not easy at all, but we need to gather our forces”, Cristian Busoi stated.
He also made a review of the mistakes that led to the failure in the elections of 2016.
“We did at the Bucharest branch what we decided in the central leadership to do in the whole country. We followed the decision to support Mr. Dacian Ciolos in campaign and we brought new people inside the party to run for the National Liberal Party. Unfortunately, some of the implementation mistakes made in the local elections were repeated also in the parliamentary elections. Cooperation with Mr. Dacian Ciolos proved to be unconvincing, so PSD gained momentum to promote its lies and populist statements in that campaign. That’s how Mr. Liviu Dragnea, a convicted politician, was able to propose a puppet anti-justice Government, who brought people out in the street after only one month since the elections” Busoi stated.
In his opinion, PNL must come with more convincing solutions for Romania’s big problems: investments, jobs, supporting the private capital, the health system that should be reformed, improving the education system, pensions.
“PNL has to come with a responsible model, contrary to the populist and irresponsible model by which PSD acts in economy, to support the private initiative and to strengthen the middle class. The fact that President Klaus Iohannis had public support in Bucharest at the time of the pro-Justice protests against GEO 13 and against the PSD Government, shows that PNL has an increment base in Bucharest. These people are opened to PNL. The only thing that we, the PNL Bucharest leaders, must do, is to regain them. Secondly, PNL has to come with an economic project opposed to the irresponsible spending made by PSD, and PNL has to support the strengthen of the middle class. Thirdly, Bucharest is on the last place regarding urban modernization. While Cluj, Timisoara or Brasov are going to Europe, Bucharest goes to Voluntari” Busoi concluded.
Atanasiu: A respectable party wash their dirty linen in the family. We need a leader who doesn’t have skeletons in the closet
The First PNL Vice President Teodor Atanasiu criticized on Saturday, at the meeting of the PNL Bucharest Coordination Council, the party leaders who “publicly attack their own colleagues, instead of washing their dirty linen in the family”, stating that the party needs a President who “doesn’t have skeletons in the closet, who doesn’t have things in the past that somebody can reproach to him”.
“In our party, most of the political leaders, instead of fighting against PSD, instead of attacking Mrs. Firea who is implementing the socialism in Bucharest, instead of attacking the Grindeanu Government, Mr. Dragnea, for what they are doing, they attack their own colleagues from inside the party, believing that this is how you become somebody, by attacking your own colleagues, even in public, many times. No. This is how a political party lose credibility, when your own colleagues attack you. A respectable party wash their dirty linen in the family (…) I believe it’s time for us to stop offending each other inside the party and it’s time to stop labeling each other” stated the First PNL Vice President, Teodor Atanasiu.
He said that the party needs a leader without a history full of problems that can be reproached to him at a certain time, and thus being possible for him to lose political capital.
“We need a leader in front of the party, who firstly will not waste the votes, who doesn’t have skeletons in his closet, who doesn’t have things in his history that somebody can reproach to him, thus losing political capital because of those memories. We need a person who is able to coagulate a team that must be formed, made of young people with dynamism, as well as of experienced people and new members of the party”, Atanasiu stated.
At the same time, he urged Liberals to vote “wisely” in the PNL Congress where the party’s President will be elected.
“You will go to the Congress in two months. Don’t look for providential leaders, ‘cause you will not find them. Look at what the candidates rely on, who forms their team and what is their political program, and vote wisely for those who will represent you” the Liberal leader stated.
