Good day, fellow HIVE users and respectful readers from both HIVE and outside of it! For my first politics-based article here on my HIVE blog, I decided to briefly explain the current major governmental crisis in Romania to the best of the understanding of a foreigner, with as little political bias on my behalf as possible.
First of all, I'd like to kick off the beginning of the article by saying that we're all political beings, whether we are politically involved or not or whether we like politics or not. Even being apolitical is a political decision, as paradoxical as it might seem to some, and it has profound effects in the mathematics of elections and parliamentary seating, just to begin with.
Secondly, in order to talk a bit about the current major governmental crisis in my home country we have to take a closer look at the Wiki graph below which speaks volume of the political instability in Romania over the last 4 years:
Timeline of Prime Ministers of Romania from 1989 onwards, from the provisional FSN up to the present day, during Florin Cîțu's cabinet. Image source: Wikipedia
As you have clearly observed from the graph above, we have changed no less than 5 PMs over the course of the last four years and we had 2 acting PMs in between. That's a bit too much. We've had a huge wave of protests between 2017 and 2019 which were aimed at respecting the rule of law by the political class and the civic society subsequently won, at least on a short term basis and just a battle, not the entire war with a tremendously corrupt political class which must change and must leave (for good)!
The disastrous chronology of Romanian PMs that have been changed from early 2017 up until December 2020. After Cîțu's departure from Victoria Palace, the next PM will be the 6th that Romania will have over the course of only 4 years marked by a lot of instability, inflation, and major distrust in the political class, regardless of political party. Image source: Wikipedia
A lot of us who are liberals or libertarians (myself included) have opted to vote for the PNL (not because they are truly liberal but because they reportedly claimed during the 2020 campaigns for the local and legislative elections that they will never form another toxic alliance with the socialists from PSD) and so I decided to vote for them only for the legislative elections at the Chamber on the grounds of being the lesser of two evils and because I did not see USR PLUS back then as a more positive party (I have to admit this mistake of mine as well, at least in stark contrast to the PNL).
Chamber initial seating, after the 2020 Romanian legislative election. Image source: Wikipedia
Popular vote versus seats summary for the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, after the 2020 legislative elections. Image source: Wikipedia
Senate initial seating, after the 2020 Romanian legislative elections. Image source: Wikipedia
Popular vote versus seats summary for the Senate of Romania, after the 2020 legislative elections. Image source: Wikipedia
What happens now, with the withdrawal of USR PLUS (the major coalition partner of PNL, at least on paper) from the Cîțu cabinet, is that we have seen how corrupt the PNL can be as well and how stupid they have taken the entire populace to be, from the incumbent state president to the MPs and MEPs.
The current seating configuration for the Chamber of Deputies, highlighting a limited support for a minority PNL-UDMR cabinet (as in 2007 and 2008). Image source: Wikipedia
The current seating configuration for the Senate, highlighting a limited support for a minority PNL-UDMR cabinet (as in 2007 and 2008). Image source: Wikipedia
Well it subsequently turned out that the joke's on them, because not only have they disrespected the rule of law very much during a very tumultuous time and a very troublesome period of time during which we have all been hit by the greatest economic recession in history so far after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have created such a circus around their forthcoming party congress scheduled on 25 September 2021 that they have equated the entire Romanian people, all of the citizens of this country, and the entire country as being synonymous to them, primarily through the voices of some of their most notable leaders.
That, coupled with the disrespect and tremendous arrogance of Cîțu himself for his coalition partners and many scandals surrounding his academic and professional career as well as a major illegal antecedent in the US many years ago, resulted in a drastic fall in percentages in more and more opinion polls conducted by various institutes for the forthcoming 2024 legislative election.
The vast majority of all opinion polls conducted from December 2020 to date give PSD as the next major winner in the 2024 Romanian legislative elections. Image source: Wikipedia
Graph summary showcasing all opinion polls conducted from December 2020 to date and registered by Wikipedia showcasing the imminent downfall of the PNL in the forthcoming legislative elections in Romania. Image source: Wikipedia
In a nutshell, Cîțu is responsible for this entire political crisis, given his consecutive dismissals of members of his cabinet issued from USR PLUS and tremendous arrogance which can be equated with mental illness. The long term result of his political actions will be, most likely, a massive defeat for him within the PNL as well as a massive defeat for the entire party in the next round of elections in 2024.