Piedone splinters the opposition down the middle

The Conservative Party has decided to run by itself in the local elections of 2012. The announcement was made by the president of the conservative party, Daniel Constantin. This decision seems surprising to say the least, especially since it could prove counterproductive for the party. If the general and local elections were to be held on the same day, in November 2012, like the leaders of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) want, the decision of the Conservative Party would only further confuse voters. It is obvious that things being what they are, an attempt will be made to prevent the project of the PDL from being successful. In the beginning of this year, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have decided to enter an alliance which stipulated that they would participate separately in the local elections of 2012, whereas in the parliamentary elections they would back the same candidates. It later looked like the agreement had been revised, and the opposition would back the same candidates in the local and in the parliamentary elections alike. However, the bone of contention was the general mayoralty of Bucharest. As the Social Liberal Union has announced it would back Sorin Oprescu, the Conservative Party opted to go with Cristian Popescu (nicknamed Piedone) as their candidate for the Mayoralty of Bucharest. Daniel Constantin has accused Victor Ponta of having unilaterally decided to support Oprescu, and that the announcement had been made without the agreement of the three factions of the USL: "It would have been a good thing if there had been a consensus on these decisions; I think that in the end it is all about attitude and respect. I think that so far we have been a factor of stability and we will continue to do so. Following the consultations with the leaders of its county-level organizations, the Conservative Party has decided that, with some exceptions, it would again run by itself in the local elections of 2012". The leader of the Conservative Party said that according to the protocol of the USL, , the party would back the same candidates as the PSD and the PNL, in the parliamentarian elections of 2012.

It will be interesting to see how the TV stations owned by Dan Voiculescu will present the electoral campaign, given the fact that the allies of the Conservative party in the parliamentary elections will be its rivals in the local elections.

The conservatives have an interesting history of political alliances. The Romanian Humanist party (the former name of the Conservative Party) entered the Parliament in 2000, when it concluded an alliance with the Social Democrat Party. Three years later, it left the government, due to lack of communication with PM Adrian Năstase. In 2004, the humanists and the social-democrats signed a new collaboration protocol, with the conservatives winning 30 seats in the Parliament. After the elections, the conservatives broke the protocol and joined the government together with the DA Alliance and the Democratic Hungarian Union (UDMR). In December 2006, they once again left the alliance and in 2008 they resumed their cooperation with the PSD for the parliamentary elections.