The National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate for Bucharest City Hall Ciprian Ciucu said on Tuesday that the support he received from Vlad-Dan Gheorghe, who withdrew from the electoral race, is extremely welcome given that the danger of extremism is real, and he called on Save Romania Union’s (USR) Catalin Drula, also a candidate, to stop creating division.

‘I want to thank Vlad Gheorghe for this difficult but responsible gesture he made today. I thank him for his support. We both have a clear vision for this city, one against bureaucracy, to eliminate corruption and to bring efficiency to the city. It is a pact, an alliance that is not ideological, at the General City Hall we do not need ideology, we need performance. We are united by European values and democratic values. In this context, in which the danger of extremism is real, we see that opinion polls give very real chances to the extremist, populist candidate with no administrative experience, so such support is extremely welcome,’ Ciprian Ciucu said at a press conference held together with Vlad Gheorghe in front of the Bucharest City Hall headquarters.

He accused Catalin Drula of running an ‘extremely negative’ campaign, one that divides.

‘The PSD [Social Democratic Party] candidate has stabilised on the third place, the USR candidate has stabilised on the fourth place with very little chance of growing, and in this context he is running an extremely negative campaign, one that divides. Today we are sending a signal of centre-right unity and, together with other political partners such as REPER and Forta Dreptei, and now with Vlad Gheorghe joining this effort, I believe we are increasing our chances. My appeal to the candidate in fourth place, the USR candidate, is to stop dividing, to run a positive campaign based on his vision, that is if he does not wish to join us further,’ Ciucu said.

Vlad-Dan Gheorghe, a former MEP, announced that he is withdrawing from the race for Bucharest City Hall, where he was running as an independent, and that he supports Ciprian Ciucu, the PNL candidate. AGERPRES