Allen Coliban suggests Elena Lasconi withdraw from the presidential race
The mayor of Brașov states that USR president Lasconi „has fallen from 19% to below 10% in just three months” and believes that a return to 20% would be „a real miracle.”
Coliban mentions that Brașov was one of the five counties where Lasconi won in the first round, but „the messages we’re now receiving are overwhelmingly in favor of her withdrawing her candidacy.”
„There have been voices, not just mine, highlighting the numbers and the reality, even from some of the counties where Elena received a lot of votes. But there have also been many silences—some out of respect for her effort and solidarity with the injustice done to her, others perhaps out of resentment toward Nicușor Dan, and some, maybe, out of the cynical belief that poor performance will lead to yet another leadership change. I find it hard to understand these colleagues, and I’m curious how much they listen to what USR supporters around them are saying. How are they able to justify publicly why the rhetoric ‘Nicușor is no good because he doesn’t answer the phone’ is stronger and more convincing than ‘Fratelli, have you gone mad? Do you want the second round to be between Simion and Ponta, or Simion and Antonescu?’ or ‘Elena’s candidacy does not help USR, but benefits Crin Antonescu and the PNL—have you sold out to them?’ The sad fact is, in the event of a poor result, it won’t be just Elena who bears the consequences, but USR as well, with the stigma of guilt for the failure of the reformists,” Coliban writes.
He warns that the current situation could lead to an electoral disaster similar to the one in 2000, when the CDR politically disappeared due to the lack of a common candidate, and the second round saw a battle between Ion Iliescu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor.
USR President Elena Lasconi is scheduled to present her candidacy at 15:00 at the Central Electoral Bureau. She will be joined by MPs, USR members, and volunteers. Lasconi claims she has gathered over 300,000 signatures.