Foreign Media About Iliescu’s Take on the Elections’ Result

Incumbent PM Adrian Nastase avoided making public statements after losing the presidential race on Sunday, except the speech in which he accepted being defeated by Traian Basescu, commented BBC. The media commented that incumbent president, Ion Iliescu, distanced himself from Nastase. The speculations were fueled by the fact that Iliescu did not make public appearances along Nastase after the latter’s final defeat, as he did in the aftermath of the first round of elections. Also, when meeting the press, Iliescu said that the Social Democrat Party could not come up with a better candidate than Nastase for the top job. "In spite of the fact that Nastase’s government was undoubtedly the most successful one we had in the past 15 years, there are a lot of tough issues still to be solved for many categories of people," Iliescu told BBC.

When asked why ultimately people did not like Nastase, Iliescu said: "Beyond the personal appeal or lack of one might have, I have to point out that it is easier to criticize from the standpoint of an opposition party and harder to bring up the arguments why the current government should keep holding power," Iliescu explained. He also confirmed previous statements made to the media that he deplored the fact that the SDP could not find a better candidate than Nastase.

"It’s true. Undoubtedly Adrian Nastase was the most experienced man and presented the strongest candidacy. Still, this does not mean that he may fail a competition, as indeed it happened," Iliescu stated.

He also gave his take on the analysis on the results of the presidential elections. "My personal take is that after all these formalities will come to a close the party (SDP) should embark on a profound analysis of its entire political activity. Not everything is determined by the electoral context and the personalities of the competitors; one should also perform a thorough analysis of the government activity in the past four years," Iliescu said.

In a profile of Iliescu, the AFP quotes Iliescu saying that the felt the SDP "still needed" him. At the same time, Iliescu said that his successor, [Nastase] "is full of qualities: open, direct, with a great capacity to adapt, a true political animal, even though lacking experience," said Iliescu.

As for the results Nastase got in the elections, Iliescu said that "they did not disappoint me, but more likely so the electorate [voting for him]." Iliescu said Nastase was wrong to not expel from party ranks "the people who only stand to profit personally [from their association with the ruling party] and have nothing in common with a left-wing party" which he vows to reconstruct.