National leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Nicolae Ciuca said on Thursday that PNL and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) will propel their presidential candidates to the second round of the presidential election, adding that it has not happened so far for an independent to win the election, and that his main opponent is PSD national leader Marcel Ciolacu.

„If we look at the political picture, you can see that the two mainstream parties – PNL and PSD – will very likely propel their candidate to the second round. Of course, none of the candidates comes from nowhere and each one has a history, each has their own experience and each has their own arguments and messages to the electorate,” Nicolae Ciuca told Antena 3 private broadcaster on Thursday.

He said that Save Romania Union’s Elena Lasconi and independent Mircea Geoana, a former PSD national leader, are not political neophytes.

„Now, there is this new trend to say that they are political newcomers. It’s not really like that, because they have a certain activity. Of course, Mrs Lasconi was a candidate of USR and led the mayoralty of Campulung Muscel, Mr Mircea Geoana comes after a period in which he was deputy secretary general of NATO, but before that position, he worked as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he led the Social Democratic Party for five years. So, if we look at all these detailed elements, we see that each of us, the candidates, has our background, we have our attributions.”

Ciuca added that it has not happened so far for an independent candidate to win the presidential election.

„I strongly believe in what it means to organise, to mobilise the parties so that they can come and support these candidacies. Do you know what the issue is? It has not happened so far for an independent to win the presidential election. A very well-organised organisation is needed, everything that represents the local branches and chapters of each party is needed in order to be able to mobilise and deliver messages to the people, to win support for candidates.”

Asked why he thinks it is appropriate to run, Ciuca replied that he has dedicated his whole life to the country.

„I give a very simple argument: all my life I have been dedicated to serving the country. That is what I have done and that is what I will do from now on. I did not go into politics for a personal reasons, but because, if we look at everything that is happening around us, I believe that I still have this duty to come and offer Romanian citizens the opportunity to choose between all the others and one who has done nothing but dedicate all his lifetime activity, his whole life to serving the country.”

He added that he is a man who has been taught to do, not to talk.

„I was not a man who speaks, I don’t have, as they say, the words with me to be able to send messages, to do it in such a way as to convince people with words. Instead, I did something else, I convinced through deeds. I am a man who was taught to do, and not to talk.”

Asked who his main opponent is, Ciuca replied: „At the moment the main opponent is Marcel Ciolacu, because he is the leader of PSD, a party with a consistent base in the Romanian electorate.

„The others do not represent a danger. They are challengers, we treat them with due respect for a counter-candidate, but the one who really represents a challenge for the second round is Marcel Ciolacu.”

Asked about the difference between him and Mircea Geoana, the PNL leader said: „The difference between me and Mircea Geoana is that I am an atypical politician, I didn’t do politics until three years ago. Mr Geoana comes from the history of post-December politics, he was the president of PSD for five years, so far, he is the longest serving PSD leader.”

Regarding the difference between him and the USR candidate, Elena Lasconi, Ciuca said: „I’ve known her for some time now; we also had face-to-face meetings, we also talked on the phone.

„If we look at what her professional background means, when it comes to what it means to lead a country, when it comes to the prerogatives of the president, one of these prerogatives is that of leading the Supreme Court for National Defence (CSAT), there are subjects and problems and decisions that require a certain professional training and a certain courage to make decisions. The difference lies precisely in that part that I believe Mrs Lasconi does not have.”

Asked who would be the ideal prime minister, the PNL leader replied that the party has the person to be nominated to lead the government.

„If I were to make this nomination, I would be unfair to all those under consideration, but I can assure you that we have the person who will be nominated as prime minister from within the National Liberal Party,” Ciuca said.

AGERPRES