At the end of a meeting on Wednesday at the Government House, the leaders of the leading coalition parties – the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) – signed a protocol for the establishment of the electoral alliance „Forward Romania” in order to support Crin Antonescu’s presidential bid.

The alliance is also backed by the parliamentary group of national minorities and will be registered with the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC), immediately after its composition is validated.

All the member parties of the electoral alliance have started collecting signatures for Crin Antonescu’s candidacy.

Under the protocol, the alliance is legally represented as follows: on behalf of the Social Democratic Party by Marcel Ciolacu, as national chairman; on behalf of the National Liberal Party by Catalin Predoiu, as interim national chairman; and on behalf of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania by Kelemen Hunor, as national chairman

The full name of the alliance is „Alianta Electorala Romania Inainte” (Forward Romania Electoral Alliance) abbreviated to „A.Ro.”

The electoral symbol of the alliance is an ensemble framed in a square representing: on the left side, the graphic of three rose buds that have the name PSD inscribed at the base of the stems; on the right side, a quadrilateral in which is inserted (a) arrow bent at an angle of 45 degrees, with the tip pointing towards the upper right corner of the quadrilateral, surrounded by twelve stars, under which the name PNL is inscribed; in the middle, a stylised tulip and the abbreviations of the name of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania in Romanian (UDMR) and in Hungarian (RMDSZ) in a rectangular frame.

The leadership of the alliance is ensured by the national leaders of PSD, PNL and UDMR.

The alliance has the following objectives: to participate together in the election on May 4 for the election of the President of Romania, including in the event of a runoff; coordinating the activity of the component political parties for winning the presidential elections; rejecting violent radicalism and extremism in all its forms, by providing a strong political force that reaffirms the deep attachment to the common principles and values promoted by membership of the European Union and NATO; securing stability and internal political balance, promoting pro-European and Euro-Atlantic values and principles in relation to current challenges.

AGERPRES