Mircea Hava, one of the longest-serving National Liberal Party (PNL) leaders: „I don’t think that elections with only one candidate are a good thing/ The credibility of the PNL cannot and should not depend only on one man, Ciucă or someone else”

European Parliamentarian Mircea Hava said on Friday that he does not believe that „elections with only one candidate are a good thing for the PNL or any other party” and also does not believe in derogations, an instrument that, in his opinion, should only be used in exceptional situations.

„The credibility of the National Liberal Party cannot and should not depend on one man alone. Whether it’s Ciucă or someone else. If you’re a soloist, it’s just you and your instrument, if you’re prime minister or party president, you need a team. I have nothing against Nicolae Ciucă, just as I had nothing against Florin Cîțu or any other member of the PNL, and I don’t want this message to be perceived as a criticism of some people, because it is not. It is, if I may say so, a personal disappointment with the wider situation we find ourselves in,” Mircea Hava wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

Hava added that he is not the „enthusiastic type” to applaud changes at the top of the party with „open applause”, but rather remains „reserved and worried about the inconsistency and the way” the government is running.

„I was not moved by Cîțu’s decision to resign as PNL leader, even though I was not a member of the ‘winning team’. However, I am not happy about Nicolae Ciucă’s candidacy either, and not because I have anything against the military man or politician Ciucă. (…) Instead, I don’t think that an election with only one candidate is a good thing for the PNL or any other party. Because they are exactly the kind of elections where there is no loser but, in fact, the whole party loses. We just went through the festival of democracy. I don’t believe in derogations either. The exception to the rule is a tool to be used in exceptional situations, and the PNL is not in such a situation”, said the MEP.

In the end, Mircea Hava concluded that the PNL is „still a large and stable party, with an important human resource”, and among its leaders there are „many people with experience in politics and administration, on whom there are no accusations or suspicions of any kind, and who could assume any candidacy at the PNL or at the national level”.

Now an MEP, Mircea Hava was mayor of Alba Iulia for almost three decades and also leader of the Alba Liberals until last year.