The unexpected results of the Bucharest city hall elections brought parties, except for the PDSR, in a rather unusual state. The question is who to negotiate with, and what. Of course, apparently the matter is not too difficult, but in our situation there is a memory of the past that prevents things from advancing normally. Politicians have made a few gestures that leave them little room for a turnaround. The first obstacle of this kind is between PD and its coalition partners. The resolution with which Traian Basescu said even before the elections that he would not negotiate his votes in the second round, and the party's decision to stick to this commitment, is the most recent problem. Yesterday, Bogdan Niculescu Duvaz explicitly stated that PD would not negotiate with its coalition partners. Petre Roman himself said Basescu was relying on his ally, "the Bucharest man," and not on political alliances, to win over Sorin Oprescu. Still, Roman introduced a nuance, saying it was up to the coalition parties whether to support Basescu. In other words, "if you want to help us, please do, if not, don't, but don't come back later talking about brotherhood - it won't work."
So, apparently, PD does not want to talk so Basescu can keep his image of a man who does not sit down at a table where a handful of politicians decide the fate of the country at their whim. In reality, however, PD would not refuse some "unbiased help," without which Basescu, with all his Bucharest allies, has no way to make up for the 20-something percent that separate him from Oprescu.
Besides the image Basescu needs now more than ever, while politicians are perceived as crooks, PD has one more reason to abstain from negotiations. The ordinary Parliament session will only last for three more weeks, of which the next ten days stretch exactly over the period of the election campaign. If it lets itself be cornered, PD would have these days to do its best to promote two laws it has constantly boycotting for four years now - the nationalised houses Law and the state farms privatisation Law. Or it should accept the promotion of CDR representatives in local administration functions, and perhaps it is not eager for the right wing breathing - however weakly - down its neck.
The problem for PD is that its coalition partners have little reason to jump to Basescu's help on their own. There is a heavy stone hanging on the Transportation Minister's neck, and he himself has contributed to it. How can the CDR ever forget the government crises and the coalition scandals PD periodically unleashed, most often through Traian Basescu's uncontrollable language? Can they forget that PD assumed the laurels of reform and let the other parties pay the tribute of the economy's shortcomings and even that of restructuring delays? Can they forget that PD obstructed the passage of two laws that would have satisfied their electorate, and allowed the third - the Lupu Law - only when its enforcement was too late to be possible?
As for the interest for posts in the Bucharest administration, here the situation is debatable. PN?CD has no particular interest in supporting Basescu, because Chirita won't accept a deputy mayor position. He prefers being a counsellor, a position that will let him retain his position as vice-president of the local and regional authorities congress in the Council of Europe.
For now, the Christian Democrats said they would let their electorate vote as they please. The situation is extremely threatening for Basescu, because this recommendation may lead to more vote-skipping among those who dislike Sorin Oprescu.
Besides the problems of cohabitation in government, the traditional CDR supporters, those very people who did vote on Sunday, are unable to forget a few bitter incidents in the early '90s, although politicians seem to have got over them: Petre Roman's attitude for Corneliu Coposu - especially his waving fist in support of those who booed the Christian Democratic leader in Alba Iulia - and the 1990 miners' uprising.
Only if the CDR deems that PDSR accession to the City Hall would be too heavy a loss for it and would run a sustained campaign about it, it might still somehow stimulate its electorate to vote for Basescu.
All these events, which have surfaced now, have been the consequence of radical attitudes among politicians, who left no room for a change of plans. Perhaps they have divided for too long everything into black and white, according to their interests, ignoring others' interests. Both when they were in power and opposition, and during the original partnership of the last years' coalition. Politicians have treated one another as they did their voters: they saw to their own businesses and discounted the others. Perhaps if they had left some room for a change of face, at least half of the Romanians would have turned out at the polls.
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