site.btaSave Romania Union Announces It Will Back Nicusor Dan in May Presidential Elections

The opposition Save Romania Union (USR) has announced that it will back Nicusor Dan in the May presidential elections. The final decision will be made at a meeting of the Political Committee on April 10 following a vote by the USR National Bureau on Wednesday. The announcement was made during a live-streamed press conference of the political party.

"There is no way Lasconi will make it to the second round. At this committee meeting, we will vote to endorse the independent candidate. This decision was approved by the National Bureau with only two votes against," said USR’s Dominic Fritz.

One of the two votes against came from USR leader Elena Lasconi herself, who attended the meeting and refuses to withdraw from the presidential race.

"I have seen the numbers and they do not look good. At times like this, we must do what is best for the country. Now we need to prevent the Ponta-Simion pair from advancing to the second round, and the only way to do that is by supporting Nicusor Dan. He is the founder of the party. We share the same values. He can keep Romania on the right path", USR floor leader Ionut Mosteanu said.

Dominic Fritz also called on the National Liberal Party (NLP) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) to back Nicusor Dan.

"I urge the NLP and the RMDSZ, who are launching the candidacy of Crin Antonescu today, not to fall into the trap of the Social Democratic Party. Do not repeat last year's mistake of ignoring your own polls. They should also support the only candidate among the pro-Europeans with a chance in the second round and that is Nicusor Dan", Fritz said.

Speaking on Digi24 an hour later, Elena Lasconi was adamant that she would not withdraw from the race.

Lasconi said that she had not convened the meeting of the party’s National Bureau where the endorsement decision was made. She criticized the decision, describing it as “extremely bad”.

According to the latest opinion poll commissioned by the USR, Lasconi is polling in fifth place.

In the November 2024 presidential elections, she made it to the second round and was due to face Calin Georgescu in a run-off on December  8, but the elections were annulled by the Constitutional Court over alleged foreign interference.