The residents of the 101 towns and municipalities in Bihor will find out this Tuesday who will ask for their votes on June 9 to lead the County Council and the town halls in the next four years.
Before the end of submitting candidacies to the Electoral Offices, Bihor it shows you what objectives, but also what chances the competitors are giving themselves, which formations have collected candidates from their opponents, where the current mayors have the best chances of winning and where they can lose, in which localities the parties will really fight and where not they won’t bother.
Overall, the political game continues to be dominated by Ilie Bolojan, who, although invincible for a decade and a half, was tempted to make way for a second at the head of CJ Bihor, just as he did in 2020 at Oradea City Hall. Of necessity, however, it remains in the foreground…
The PNL dilemma: Bolojan or Mălan?
Until last week, the Bihor liberals did not know who would be their candidate for the presidency of Bihor CJ, the most representative position and with the greatest political weight. Not because they had no option, on the contrary, they had two options: the current president Ilie Bolojan (photo) and the vice-president Mircea Mălan.
Being on the “front line” since 2004, as prefect and then secretary general of the Government, since 2008 mayor of Oradea, and since 2020 head of the county administration, Bolojan was inclined to cede the candidacy to Mălan, as four years ago, when “left” at the City Hall on Birta. “The calculation was that based on the achievements of the last three years, Mălan can win the headship of CJ Bihor, and in the next four years to gather others so that we can win in 2028 as well”, explained a liberal.
It’s just that, with Mălan as a candidate, the PNL had to find out if it can keep the current majorities, both in the county “parliament” and in the Oradea Local Council. The dilemma was resolved by a survey that ended last Wednesday, and the decision was made on Thursday. In a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes and from which both Bolojan and Mălan were absent (both went to the county to campaign for mayoral candidates), the 35 members of the County Political Bureau unanimously voted as Oradea City Hall to run for the mayor in office, Florin Birta, and for the head CJ Bihor also Bolojan. The same evening, the decision was validated, also unanimously, by the Board of Directors, which includes 123 liberals.
The bigger gain
The poll of the liberals sought to indicate to what extent they can win with either of the two, each having a different degree of impact on the vote for councilor lists, but also on mayoral candidacies.
According to sources BIHOREANthe data show that Mălan would have won the headship of Bihor CJ with 41% and would have ensured his colleagues a simple majority, with 18 or 19 mandates of county councilor, respectively 17-18 mandates of municipal councilor.
Instead, Bolojan would have rated with 74% (in 2020 he had 61.51% of the votes) and would bring 21-22 county councilor mandates, respectively 19-20 local councilor mandates in Oradea, which means that he would solve the problem two-thirds majority, without which important projects cannot be voted on.
As the PNL currently has 22 mandates at the CJ, and 20 at the CLO, it has become clear that the Bolojan option is the most profitable. Even the county mayors insisted that he continue. “It’s one thing to say that you are in tandem with Bolojan, whom everyone in Bihor knows, another with Mălan, who is less known,” explained the source.
Favorites from PNL
The survey also shows that the mayor of Oradea, Florin Birta (photo)is more than comfortable, being rated with 66% (below the score of 70.13% from 2020, but far ahead of the UDMR and PSD candidates), and in the county PNL can hope to keep 40-42 of the 48 town halls won in 2020 .
On June 9, PNL Bihor will have candidates for 97 town halls. As the election is divided into one round, the current office holders are favored from the start. The easiest to maintain would be those with veteran mayors, with 4-8 terms behind them and with good results: Sântandrei (Ioan Mărcuş, in office since 1990), Vârciorog (Vasile Cociuba, in the last two elections without an opponent), Aştileu ( Vasile Lazăr), Osorhei (Ioan Gligor), Ştei (Iulian Balaj), Rieni (Gheorghe Bota), Drăgăneşti (Florina Man), Cefa (Dumitru Bărnău), Aleșd (Ioan Todoca – despite the fact that in 2020 he was declared a collaborator of the former Security), Roşia (Remus Moţiu), Cociuba Mare (Mihai Sferle – the mayor of the first commune practically without social assistance). The examples can continue with Balc, Olcea, Şoimi, Dobreşti, Bunteşti, Curătele, Holod, Avram Iancu, Madăras, Sânnicolau Român, Lăzăreni, Vadu Crişului, Şuncuiuş, Ciumeghiu.
In Beiuş, the current mayor Gabriel Popa, although mediocre, would have 42% in the poll, while the best-placed opponent, PSD-ist Gligor Sabău, 24%. In Tileagd, Suplacu de Barcău and Abram, the councilors Adrian Codrean, Nicolae Tivadar and Gabriel Nuţaş as well (the PSD tried to recruit the latter, but without success).
On the other hand, at the opposite pole, the vice-president of the CJ Bihor Călin Gal, sent to run for the Sânmartin City Hall, where the PSD-ist Cristian Laza is the favorite, has an impossible mission, so a place has been reserved for him on the list of county councilors, in order to – keep his current position if the PNL retains its majority.
I remain with the PSD
PSD will have candidates for 95 town halls. Councilor Adrian Madar aspires to Oradea, convinced that “we will have the best score since 1989”, and to CJ Bihor the interim head of the county organization, Aurel Mohan (photo), and this one very confident. “We want to double the number of municipal councilors from 3 to 6, and to increase the number of county councilors from 6 to 9”, declared Mohan.
PSD Bihor also wants to increase its dowry of mayors from 28 to “over 30”. He has already partially succeeded, recruiting the PNL mayors from Tinca, Teodor Coste, and Boianu Mare, Ioan Bandula, just as he recruited Dorin Boca and Florin Ciora from among the PNL-ists from CJ Bihor.
The PSD-ists did not conduct any polls, despite the generous subsidies received by the party, but based on the results of their colleagues and the weakness of their rivals, they are convinced that most of the mayors will retain their mandates. It is the case of Cristian Laza (Sânmartin), the mayors of Derna (Serghei Iarko), Pietroasa (Alin Laza), Gepiu (Ioan Purge), Budureasa (Adrian Magda), Căbeşti (Corina Ene), Remetea (Ionel Copil), Pocola ( Vasile Birta), Ceica (Ana Şovre), Sâmbăta (Mariana Laza), Batăr (Ioan Mughiuruş), Tulca (Daniel Avrămuţ), Ineu (Dumitru Togor), Teţchea (Florin Cazan), Copăcel (Silviu Petrița), Borod (Sorin Sarca – this despite the investigation of his wife for fraud with European funds) or Nucet (Mircea Tuduce).
FROM THE LEFT… The first to present their candidates in the local elections were, last Wednesday, the PSD-ists from Oradea, with the ambitious aspirant for the City Hall, Adrian Madar, in the lead. The liberals followed on Saturday, the UDMR-ists on Sunday, then the United Right Alliance and AUR. Many of the pictures from now will remain simple memories, like in family albums…
By ethnicity
UDMR Bihor will have mayoral candidates in “more than half of the localities”, says the president Cseke Attila (pictured), pretender to head CJ Bihor, in tandem with Biró Rozalia at the Oradea City Hall. Currently, UDMR Bihor has 21 councilors, and the objective is “to keep what we have”, including the 6 mandates from CJ Bihor and the 4 from Oradea Local Council.
The mayors of UDMR, moreover, have even less emotions than those of PNL or PSD, because almost all the localities where they compete are predominantly inhabited by ethnic Hungarians: Borş, Biharia, Tămăşeu, Sălard, Sâniob, Roşiori, Diosig, Petreu, Cherechiu, Buduslău, Şimian, Tarcea, Sălacea, Viişoara, Tăuteu, Valea lui Mihai and others in the north of the county.
Although undeclared, the UDMR’s ambition is also to “recover” the mayorships of Chişlaz, won in 2020 by the liberal George Bezi, and Cetariu, where Biró Ferenc, from the Alliance of Hungarians in Transylvania (formerly PPMT), is in office.
In Salonta, where the ethnic Hungarians are not a clear majority, but also in Paleu, the situation of the mayors Török László and Somogyi László does not seem endangered, and this is because the ethnic Romanians will divide their votes for the candidates of several parties.
no “stars”
USR, which in 2020 missed the entry into the CJ Bihor and the CLO and did not win any mayor’s office, would like this time to at least have county and municipal councilors in Oradea. Under the banner of the United Right Alliance, formed with PMP and Forţa Dreptei, they will try to gather votes with former sub-prefect Daniel Palaghianu and Alex Orjan, a lawyer in Ştei, as candidates for the City Hall and for the head of the CJ, respectively, whose duty is to shoot, in fact, lists for councils.
ADU will have candidates for 30 town halls, says the president of USR Bihor, Silviu Dehelean. Some are the losers from 2020 (for example Sebastian Bradea in Alesd), others recruited from PNL (councillor Sergiu Sala in Salonta), and in other parts he will try his luck with councilors in office (Traian Cosor in Sântandrei, Emil Popa in Beiuş) .
And AUR wants to cross the electoral threshold, putting forward the former head of ALDE Bihor Ciprian Blejan (photo), candidate for CJ Bihor, and the entrepreneur Costel Moza, candidate for Oradea City Hall, but the organization’s representatives refused to declare in how many other cities and municipalities will still have candidates for mayors. In fact, last Friday, George Simion was still giving out announcements on WhatsApp that candidates were being sought in over 20 localities in Bihor, from Aştileu and Borod to Toboliu and Uileacu de Beiuş.
At the beat
Electoral battles, truly, are expected in approximately 30 localities. In Pomezeu, PNL-ist Ioan Şora has reasons to tremble in front of PSD councilor Viorel Ciuhandu, who constantly criticized his inefficiency, in Hidişelu de Sus PSD councilor Alexandru Tirla, who in the past lost three times to PNL councilor Adrian Petroi, of this time he could beat him.
In Lunca, there will be “one on one” between the PNL mayor Ioan Popa and the former PNL county councilor Dorin Boca, transferred to the PSD, in Criştioru de Jos, the liberal councilor Fanel Tulvan must defend his position in front of the vice mayor Călin Tulvan, a former party colleague , but also transferred to PSD.
In Brusturi, a total war is predicted between PSD mayor Livia Bârlău (photo), tried for attempted murder, but retained as a candidate, and PNL councilor Radu Gavra. “The town hall would have arranged two counter-candidates, from AUR and PUSL, in order to “break” the votes that would otherwise go to Gavra”, says a local.
The UDMR mayor from Lugaşu de Jos, Sorban Levente, could also have problems, because the PSD did not put up a candidate for the Mayor’s office, and from the PNL side he will be faced by the director of the school in the commune, Loredana Berzovan, a former supporter who became a radical protester, who she knows his weaknesses and is also motivated. Basic conditions in today’s politics…
Oddities
Top, betrayals, abandonments and surrenders
The June 9 elections are not without picturesque aspects, such as a small “table” of the PNL, which did not put up a candidate for the Tărcaia City Hall, shared with many ethnic Hungarians, in order not to allow it to be won by the UDMR, even at the price of PSD-ist Aurel Ille remaining in office.
In Finis, the PSD mayor Ioan Man, famous as a thief of wood from the forest, surrendered the candidacy to none other than his own wife, Apolonia Man, who is also his subordinate in the mayor’s office, and the PSD-ist alderman from Uileacu de Beiuş, Gheorghe Cuciula, a let his predecessor, Mihaela Sabău, to run, whose “conviction” received from ANI has expired.
In Popeşti, Dorin Curtan wanted to defect from the PNL to the PSD, angry with the liberals because they did not promise him a place on the lists of deputies in the fall. In the end, however, he… changed his mind.
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