The AUR candidate, Mihai Enache, started his election campaign for Bucharest City Hall. Over time, Enache emerged as a constant critic of the former mayors of the Capital, Gabriela Firea and Nicuşor Dan, qualifying their mandates as “missed experiences”. However, Enache’s only so-called success was coordinating the so-called AUR Mobile Hospital, in reality an electoral tool used by the AUR to manipulate the public.
A populist campaign
Enache is trying to run an election campaign in which he portrays himself as the solution that the people of Bucharest are waiting for. Recently, Enache declared that “the people of Bucharest are tired of hearing solutions, plans and promises… and that we will have to talk about the competence of the people in the campaign”, letting it be understood that he is that competent candidate.
Instead, we know what the AUR candidate is betting on, namely a close score:
“The goal is to win. My opinion is that the General City Hall this year will be won by a small score, with 25%, because there will be tight results between all the candidates from the main parties, maybe between the four who have already announced themselves”, declared Mihai Enache.
It’s just that many times the GOLD candidate comes across as comical, if not downright ridiculous. For example, in a recent campaign photo, Enache appears with a yellow helmet on his head, with his name and the slogan “Golden Choice!”. On the election poster Enache brags about building a dental hospital as a “simple official”, but does not mention the name of this hospital which Enache says cost 10 million euros. Enache goes on to say, “Think what I could accomplish as mayor.”
On his Facebook page, Enache appears in numerous videos, wearing a yellow cap on his head and talking about what he could achieve as mayor. Enache also seems to have communist nostalgia. In a photo posted by the AUR candidate, a parade from the time of Nicolae Ceaușescu is immortalized, and below is the same street in Bucharest today.
“In the past and in the present. Guess what mushroom it is,” writes Enache.
In another photo, Enache presents some ruins in the Bucharest area, saying that “It’s not a scene from a war, it’s Bucharest “administered” by Firea and Nicușor Dan!”. In another photo, Enache compares a place between the interwar Bucharest and the Bucharest of today.
It thus becomes clear that Enache tries to rely on people’s nostalgia regarding the old regimes, including the communist regime which in the collective imagination of some is still seen as a “Golden Age” of Romania. In addition, he tries to portray himself as the solution that the people of Bucharest are waiting for, the “golden choice for Bucharest”, as Enache presents himself in his CV. In order to achieve his goal, Enache is willing to wear several masks – Enache the engineer, Enache the man who can restore Bucharest’s former “glory”.
In conclusion, Mihai Enache’s electoral campaign represents a sample of populism and demagoguery. The AUR candidate really has little to brag about and is more likely banking on a protest vote. At the same time, Enache is aware that he will not gather many votes, but he is counting on one more thing, namely a large number of candidates that will ultimately lead to a fragmentation of the vote.
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Robert Manea is a graduate of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Bucharest and of the European Academy of Diplomacy in Warsaw. He has over 7 years of experience in the country’s press, covering domestic and foreign policy topics.
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