President of Romania’s governing PNL gearing up to be the party’s presidential hopeful
<p><strong>Nicolae Ciucă</strong>, the president of the National Liberal Party and head of the Romanian Senate, is increasingly looking like the&nbsp;party’s&nbsp;pick for the presidency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ciucă, a former general in the Romanian army and an ally of current president Klaus Iohannis, also from PNL, is featured on dozens of billboards&nbsp;across the country. In parallel, a social media campaign seeks to promote the party leader.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nicolae Ciucă repeatedly stated that PNL should have its&nbsp;own&nbsp;presidential candidate and that he is willing to run for the highest office in the state, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.g4media.ro/video-nicolae-ciuca-si-a-lansat-campania-de-prezidentiabil-cu-panouri-publicitare-pe-autostrazi-si-clipuri-video-promovate-pe-net-mesajul-e-construit-in-jurul-familiei-traditiilor-bisericii-si-arma.html" target="_blank">G4Media</a>.</p>

<p>In the videos posted on Facebook, one of the most widely used social media platforms&nbsp;in the country, Ciucă highlights his relationship with his family and his military background.&nbsp;The latest video explicitly references the presidential role.&nbsp;"Romanians would choose someone for the position of president if they meet at least the following criteria: love their country, have served the people, and remember their mission in that role,"&nbsp;says Nicolae Ciucă in the recording.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Other clips refer to the values promoted by Nicolae Ciucă: national identity, the military, the church, traditions and customs, and family. These are conservative messages, similar to those consistently promoted by&nbsp;both&nbsp;the PSD and AUR.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"I&nbsp;chose a military career when I was young, at 14.&nbsp;I believe&nbsp;this is&nbsp;my mission: to work with people&nbsp;and for people.&nbsp;The military and the church are two institutions that are part of our&nbsp;nation's&nbsp;fabric, and&nbsp;it's&nbsp;important not to lose faith in them. What I believe we should leave as a legacy for future generations is normality,”&nbsp;Ciucă says in another video.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="591" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F973747347238628%2F&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=267&amp;t=0" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="267"></iframe></p>

<p>Alongside the online campaign, dozens of&nbsp;large&nbsp;billboards with Nicolae&nbsp;Ciucă's&nbsp;image have appeared along highways across the country. In these billboards, Ciucă promotes values such as family and faith. The billboards show Ciucă alone, without his image&nbsp;being attached&nbsp;to other PNL candidates or leaders.</p>

<p>Earlier this year, MEP Rareș Bogdan, the&nbsp;party's&nbsp;first vice president, said that&nbsp;PNL’s&nbsp;internal regulations clearly state that the PNL president is the candidate for the presidency.&nbsp;"He has no choice because we will force him;&nbsp;it's&nbsp;simple. I will be there every hour and every day to make sure&nbsp;he&nbsp;accepts the candidacy. So, he&nbsp;doesn't&nbsp;really&nbsp;have a choice because when the party demands it, you&nbsp;can't&nbsp;do much about it,"&nbsp;Rareș Bogdan said, cited by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/rares-bogdan-anunta-ca-nicolae-ciuca-va-fi-candidatul-pnl-la-prezidentiale-nu-are-ce-face-il-obligam-2742111" target="_blank">Digi24</a>.</p>

<p>Romania’s&nbsp;upcoming presidential elections will&nbsp;be held&nbsp;between September and November&nbsp;of this year. So far, none of the major parties have announced their presidential candidate, and nominations&nbsp;are expected&nbsp;to occur&nbsp;immediately after the local and European parliamentary elections on June 9.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nicolae Ciucă has been the PNL president since 2022 when he was endorsed by Klaus Iohannis for the leadership over Florin Cîțu.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/electoral-calendar-mar-2024" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Romania's 2024 elections: The calendar announced so far</a></p>

<p><em>(Photo: Gov.ro)</em></p>

<p><em>radu@romania-insider.com</em></p>