Romania’s 2024 elections: President of opposition party USR resigns after disappointing results
<p><strong>Cătălin Drulă</strong>, the president of the Save Romania Union (USR), has resigned after the party recorded disappointing results in the June 9 elections.</p>

<p>“The result of the elections is below the expectations we had. […] I take responsibility for the result,” Drulă said in his resignation speech.</p>

<p>Drulă won the elections for the <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/usr-catalin-drula-new-president-2022" rel="noopener" target="_blank">president of Romania’s main opposition party in 2022</a>.</p>

<p>USR was part of the alliance that supported Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan in his bid for a second mandate. Preliminary results show that the party hasn’t managed to keep the mayor mandate it had in Bucharest’s District 1 and the one in District 2 is still disputed. In Brașov, USR mayor Allen Coliban gathered fewer votes than his PNL rival George Scripcaru. In the EU Parliament elections, the United Right Alliance, which included USR, scored a little above 16%, according to preliminary data.</p>

<p>Drulă said he would call elections for a new party president shortly and pointed to Dominic Fritz, the Timișoara mayor who has won a second term, as a potential leader. “It is essential that USR goes further because Romania’s modernization hopes were pinned on this movement,” he said.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="314" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcatalindrulausr%2Fvideos%2F429779439865862%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=560&amp;t=0" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></p>

<p><a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/local-elections-2024-partial-results-romania-major-cities-mayors" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Local elections 2024: Partial results show most of Romania’s major cities reelect mayors</a></p>

<p><em>(Photo: George Calin/ Inquam Photos)</em></p>

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