Early Elections Still on the President’s Mind

President Traian Basescu admitted in an interview broadcast on public television Thursday evening that the issue of calling early elections never left his mind, but that he had to put it off for a while since more urgent issues, like the Iraq hostage crisis and the floods took center stage.

"One efficient way to go would be to call early elections with only two weeks of campaign available, during which time the Executive will carry on as usual. However, I cannot achieve that without the PM [Calin Popescu Tariceanu] agreeing to it," stated Basescu.

He added that in spite of speculations in the media, he enjoyed a good relationship with Tariceanu. Basescu noted, however, that Tariceanu’s idea to [avoid early elections with] strengthening the current majority with accepting politicians defecting the former Social Democrat Party "was the worst solution."
Basescu made complementary remarks towards the other partner in the ruling coalition - the Democrat Union of Hungarians in Romania - saying that "it is a pleasure to govern along the Hungarians; they are well educated, intelligent, and usually extremely valuable people to have around; the DUHR does not pose problems of competency."

The leaders of the National Liberal Party [Tariceanu leads] could not hide yesterday they displeasure at Basescu’s comments [formerly head of the Democrat Party, also a partner in the ruling coalition]. Puiu Hasotti, leader of the liberal group in the Senate, said that the NLP admits former SDP members into his ranks "since they are changing allegiance out of their own will, and not pressured by the ruling parties." He added that all new entries will be screened individually.