George Simion, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)’s candidate for the presidential election in May, withdrew on Monday evening from the first televised debate, organized at the Cotroceni Palace by Digi 24 TV station.

Simion and his supporters participated in the opening moments of the debate.

The AUR candidate came to the presentation with a bouquet of flowers, which he offered to Elena Lasconi, the USR candidate for the presidential elections, who is participating in the debate.

„I want to give these flowers to Mrs. Lasconi. Of all the candidates here, Mrs. Lasconi is the only one who was actually voted for by the Romanians and who really should have gone to the final vote and the final confrontation with Mr. Calin Georgescu. I sat there for a long time and thought, (…) and the way in which democracy was trampled on and how this electoral campaign unfolded made me decide that, out of respect for democracy and for the voice of the Romanian people, I cannot endorse this electoral debate and out of respect for the man who was supposed to be here and the man who was elected by the Romanians, I, this week, will be in the country among the Romanians, with the Romanian people and for the Romanian people,” declared George Simion, after which he left the debate together with his supporters.

Independent candidate Victor Ponta was also scheduled to be present at the first televised debate held in the last week of the campaign, but announced on Monday morning that he would not be present.

This week, televised debates are being held at Cotroceni Palace by TV stations Digi 24, TVR and Antena 3.

AGERPRES