Piedone announces he will run for Bucharest mayor if sectors are abolished

The two big groups on the Romanian political scene, PD-L and USL (formed of PNL and PSD), are looking for solutions to decide on candidates for Romania’s most important city hall, the Bucharest City Hall, which has an overall annual budget, sector budgets included, of 2 billion euros. The campaign to elect the mayor of Bucharest will start in a year’s time, with elections to be held in June 2012.

One of the possible candidates for the Bucharest City Hall from PSD (Social Democratic Party), Cristian Popescu Piedone, who is set to stand a fair chance after the massive investments he made in the 4th sector as its mayor, yesterday made a surprise announcement: he would run if Bucharest’s sectors were abolished, i.e. he made the very same proposal that its adversary PD-L (Democratic-Liberal Party) did.

Parties’ strategies will be influenced in 2012, unlike in the case of other elections, by the potential abolishment of the six Bucharest sectors and the setting up of 22 smaller districts, which would not have their own budgets and mayors.

A draft law whereby Bucharest’s sectors could be abolished, was initiated in February 2011 by PD-L deputy Vasile Gherasim, and was advocated publicly on several occasions by Elena Udrea, Minister Of Regional Development and Tourism.