Romania sets Presidential elections dates for November 24 and December 8 / Parliamentary elections for December 1

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (Prime Minister of Romania) announced at the beginning of the government meeting that a government decision would be adopted to validate the election calendar, following the agreement within the governing coalition. Thus, the presidential elections will be held on November 24 for the first round and on December 8 for the second round, while the parliamentary elections will take place on December 1.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) issued identical statements confirming that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be interspersed. The first round of the presidential elections will be on November 24, followed by the parliamentary elections on December 1, and the second round of the presidential elections on December 8. Nicolae Ciucă (leader of PNL) stated that the government would adopt the decision to set the election dates.

G4Media revealed that PSD would propose the variant of interspersed elections, with the parliamentary elections placed between the two rounds of the presidential elections.

The stakes of this calendar are that parties with candidates advancing to the second round of the presidential elections will be advantaged in the parliamentary elections between the two rounds due to the mobilization of their voters who have a major political stake. Conversely, parties that do not advance their candidate to the second round of the presidential elections could be penalized by the electorate in the parliamentary elections.

The parliamentary elections will take place on December 1, Romania’s National Day.

The governing coalition finalized discussions on the electoral calendar for the presidential and parliamentary elections. Coalition representatives agreed on organizing the presidential elections on November 24 for the first round and on December 8 for the second round, and the parliamentary elections on December 1.

The coalition meeting began with the participation of political leaders Nicolae Ciucă, Lucian Bode, and Cătălin Predoiu from PNL, and Marcel Ciolacu, Sorin Grindeanu, Paul Stănescu, Mihai Tudose, and Marian Neacșu from PSD. The governing coalition decided in Thursday’s meeting the dates for this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

On Monday and Tuesday, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, president of PSD, held consultations with political parties on the dates for organizing the presidential and parliamentary elections. The head of the executive announced that he would invite political party leaders to discuss the electoral calendar, emphasizing that uncertainty on this topic affects trust among partners and must cease.

On Monday, the discussions with the prime minister were attended by representatives of USR (Save Romania Union), AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), SOS Romania, the National Minorities Group from the Chamber of Deputies, and PUSL. On Tuesday, the dialogue continued with representatives from REPER and Forța Dreptei.

The USR delegation reaffirmed, during the discussions at the Government, their desire to respect the law and hold elections on time, according to the party’s president, Elena Lasconi. The president of AUR, George Simion, stated that his party was prepared for presidential elections on September 15, but Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu „was tricked again” and is considering December.

The leader of the UDMR senators, Cseke Attila, stated that the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania supports separating the presidential elections from the parliamentary ones and proposed that the elections for the country’s president be set in October.

Reunited in the National Political Bureau meeting, the PNL leadership unanimously agreed that the presidential elections should take place on time, in November, declared the party’s president, Nicolae Ciucă. „All members of the National Political Bureau agreed to support holding the presidential elections on time,” stated the liberal leader.