Representatives of Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the opposition Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) criticized President Nikusor Dan's participation in yesterday's official presentation of the Union for the Salvation of Romania (SSR) candidate Catalin Drula for mayor of Bucharest, Digi 24 TV reported, BTA reported.
The criticism of Nikusor Dan, who is a former mayor of Bucharest and founder and former leader of the SSR, was made by SDP senator Daniel Zamfir and AUR leader Gheorghe Simion, who believe that the head of state abused his powers and violated the constitution.
"From the SDP's point of view "What Nikusor Dan did is absolutely unacceptable. Obviously, this is a gross violation of the constitution, which obliges the president to be impartial in his relations with the parties (…) Such manifestations, in which the president of Romania, who is called upon to respect the constitution and ensure balance, intervenes so brutally in favor of one candidate … I think it is something we cannot allow," Zamfir pointed out.
The PSD is part of the ruling four-party coalition, which also includes the National Liberal Party, the Union for the Salvation of Romania and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania.
"Do you know where Nikusor Dan is now?", said in turn the leader of the AUR, Gheorghe Simion. "Attending the event of a political party, supporting a candidate in the election campaign in Bucharest - completely unconstitutional, completely outside the job description of the position, completely immoral. Unthinkable in other times, when such a move would have caused immediate removal from office".
Nicusor Dan attended yesterday the presentation of Catalin Drula's candidacy for mayor of Bucharest and specified that he did so at the invitation of the Bucharest organization of the SSR, with which he collaborated for years as mayor of the Romanian capital.
This is not the only case when the president of Romania participated in a party event during his mandate, the television pointed out, recalling that Klaus Iohannis participated in a congress of the National Liberal Party (NLP) in 2021, and Traian Basescu - in the congress of the Democratic Liberal Party in 2013. However, neither of them participated in the presentation of a candidacy for the mayor of Bucharest, notes Digi 24.
The constitution prohibits the incumbent president from participating in a political party, but there is no a provision that refers to the support or participation in congresses or other meetings of a political formation, the television added.
By-elections in Romania are scheduled for December 7. The mayoral post in Bucharest remained vacant after Nicosor Dan, who was mayor in his second term, was elected president of Romania in the elections in May.