Experts claim that large public expanses have lost confidence in a rooted political establishment which is considered to have poorly managed the nation while taking care of its own private interests.
“This situation is difficult for ordinary people. They are very upset by the political class,” said Anton Pisaroglu, a political consultant who also presented a candidate in the elections before abandoning. He described the dominant mood of the countryside as “anti-system”.
One of the reasons is the strong regional inequality created by the previous boom, in which Romania played a catch -up after 50 years behind the iron curtain.
According to EU statistics, in 2023 The Bucharest region was the most rich sixth in the EU in terms of GDP per capita during the adjustment of purchasing power, before Hamburg or Berlin. Northeast of Romania was among the poorest.
This inequality, and the resentment it has generated, is a fertile ground for the nationalist and anti-establishment message of Aur, said Sorina Cristina Soare, political scientist at the University of Florence who conducted interviews with Romanian voters in the context of his research.
“The more you move away from the rich districts of major cities, the more votes for Sion and protest votes,” said Soare. An analysis of the first voting round revealed that in average, the constituencies won by Simion had 1,931 patients per doctor, while the report in the seats won by Dan was only 725.
For the winner on Sunday, putting the country back on a stable economic basis in halfway will be an intimidating challenge – it is unlikely that the manifesto of the elections promises to survive.
Sion, so victorious, “will probably be forced by the need to do what is necessary,” said Tim Ash, sovereign credit strategist for BlueBay Asset Management.
Politices
