The last hour: The police fired their gun in Bragadiru, to capture a fugitive convict

The spokesperson of the PNL, Ionuţ Stroe, stated on Friday evening that, after the June 9 elections, the ruling coalition will discuss whether the date of the presidential elections will be changed. Until then, however, “we are evolving in the equation of local elections”, said Stroe, in a show on B1 TV, News.ro reports.

“Things can go on in today’s political equation”

“It is a subject that we will address after June 9, when we will be able to evaluate the results of our activity and obviously organize and project the political and electoral future. At the moment we are not discussing data modification. There was also a public announcement by the prime minister regarding the possibility of organizing these elections in September. Very likely we will confirm this scenario after the local elections”, said Ionuţ Stroe, on Friday evening, when asked about bringing forward the date of the presidential elections.

Regarding the relationship between the PSD and the PNL after the local and European parliamentary elections on June 9, Stroe stated that the relationship could continue under the same conditions, if the two formations will have good results in the governing act.

“If we have results, and I’m mainly referring to governance, things can continue in the political equation in which we are still evolving today. From my point of view, there are currently no difficulties in this PNL-PSD relationship, even if there is electoral competition in most counties and cities of this country. This competition, this rivalry is a historical one and even if at the level of the Government there is cooperation between us, there is dialogue, common decisions, at the level of the local public administration we preferred to have this competition”, said Stroe.

He stated that despite the rivalry between liberal and social democratic candidates in the local elections, they would not be strong enough to challenge the ruling coalition.

“Mutual respect exists. I wouldn’t see any kind of problem if we could continue this project. The moment and the reason why we established this coalition was to overcome certain problems, possible situations of political instability, which could have turned into economic and social instability. And the security context in which we evolve as a country matters enormously. I think it is the most suitable coalition to stop this wave of populism and extremism somewhere,” added Stroe.

The legal framework has already been created

President Klaus Iohannis promulgated, on Tuesday, the Law for the amendment of art. 5 para. (1) from Law no. 370/2004 for the election of the President of Romania, which stipulates that the presidential elections take place no later than 3 months before the month in which the term of office of the president expires.

In March, the Constitutional Court rejected, as unfounded, the notification of USR deputies and the Law Force regarding the law for the advancement of the presidential elections. “Essentially, the Court ruled that the criticized law carries out a resizing of the time interval in which the date of the elections is to be set, which does not call into question a fundamental element of electoral law”, argued the CCR judges.

The two parties accused that the project was adopted by PSD, PNL and UDMR, “in flagrant violation of any democratic principles”.

On March 5, the Chamber of Deputies adopted, as a decision-making body, the draft law of the UDMR, which provides for the modification of the date of the Romanian President’s elections. The draft law aims to regulate the amendment of art. 5 para. (1) from Law no. 370/2004, so that the elections for the President of Romania are organized no later than three months before the month in which the term of office of the President of Romania expires.

PSD President Marcel Ciolacu announced that the presidential elections will take place on September 15 and 29, and on December 8 the general elections will take place.