New PNL Leader Antonescu to take on Basescu

National Liberal Party (PNL) Senator Crin Antonescu won a landslide election against former Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu to become PNL party leader and potential presidential candidate against Traian Basescu in the election this November.

April 2009 - From the Print Edition

After the PNL lost the general elections last year, Tariceanu’s authority within his party weakened and he lost the vote by 546 to Antonescu’s 873.
Many members of the party also blamed Tariceanu for failing to negotiate with either the Democratic Liberal Party (PD-L) or Social Democrats (PSD) to remain in Government.
Antonescu was the only candidate to run against Tariceanu for the party president position. Former Minister of Transport Ludovic Orban was also tipped to run for the top job, but he backed out in support of Antonescu. In return Antonescu promised Orban the deputy position as PNL first vice president.
It is likely that Antonescu will stand for President against Traian Basescu in the November 2009 elections. He has already won support from Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu, an independent political figure. However Basescu is still the most popular politician in Romania.
At 50 years of age, Antonescu is a former Minister of Youth and Sports in the 1996-2000 right-wing Government. A member of the Liberal Party since 1990, Antonescu is so far free of accusations of corruption. He is also former spokesperson of the party and has evolved a convincing discourse for use in political debating.
In 2004, Antonescu’s wife Aurelia was diagnosed with terminal cancer and subsequently committed suicide by throwing herself from a building. Since then Antonescu has raised his one daughter, eight-year old Irina.
Antonescu now has a large majority in the PNL leadership division, the central political bureau, where he has the support of 22 members against Tariceanu’s six. This gives him the opportunity to easily pass important decisions within the PNL.
Former Minister of Economy and Finance Varujan Vosganian and ex-Liberal MP Norica Nicolai are also supporters of Antonescu.
However he has backing from controversial supporters, such as the Iasi baron and businessman Relu Fenechiu. One of the main funders of the party is understood to be billionaire businessman Dinu Patriciu, minority shareholder and former owner of oil and gas company Rompetrol. Many analysts have said that Antonescu’s victory was only possible because Patriciu’s patronage switched from Tariceanu to the new Liberal leader.
During PNL’s congress, Crin Antonescu publicly thanked Patriciu for his support and his historic contribution to the party.
Other analysts believe that Antonescu may be able to repair PNL’s frosty relations with the bigger parties, the PSD and PD-L. Because the Romanian political system is now split between three parties, it is likely that if any party were to want to form a coalition, it would need the support of one of the other two. Ideologically, the PNL positions itself as a centre-right party, closer in spirit to the PD-L.