Ioana Lupea: "Ion Iliescu's retirement has the perfume of blackmail. It is under the dignity of the former head of state to fight for a parliamentary seat, and to condition his candidate ship, still productive for PSD, by renouncing the "uninominal" system."
Nobody asked him if will retire his retirement in case the list vote will come back. He suggested only a "yes". Iliescu had never asked for terms. He complained, he gave an advice, he expressed an opinion. The others executed in such way that his desires came true. Had Ion Iliescu ever asked for the homes not to be returned to the former owners? No. In a work visit at Satu-Mare, in May 2004, he only said that the courts of law weren't allowed to take decisions of returning until the introduction of the law for protection of the tenants. In the second day, the Bucharest Prefecture asked the General Prosecutor's Office to attack the definitive decisions of return of the nationalized houses. Even today we are paying hard money for this presidential remark.
At a sign, the offensive against the uninominal vote has started. Also, Lucian Bolcas, from PRM, offered us the translation of the former president's decision: a form of protest against this "aberration which is the uninominal vote". The PSD Bihor senator Alexandru Atanasiu qualified the uninominal system as a "stupidity" which will lead to the pulverization of the parliament. And the spoke person of Nicolae Vacaroiu, Adnrei Alexandru, recommended president Basescu to invite the parties to Cotroceni in order to discuss, yet again, "the opportunity of the uninominal vote". During the same evening, at Realitatea TV, Adrian Nastase spoke of "the risks of the uninominal" and about Ion Iliescu's concern over the alteration of the left with candidates who are auto-financing. Ion Iliescu's announcement can be perceived, under these conditions, like a signal for the beginning of a new offensive, desperate, against the new vote system.
Why is PSD afraid of the uninominal system which, being proportional, gives everybody a chance of entering in the parliament. The system, created by the parliament, unlike those proposed by Traian Basescu and Pro Democratia, is a lottery. There are no certain colleges, and a candidate who obtains 45% of the votes can lose the parliament in which will enter easily one elected only by 10% from the voters. The possibility of obtaining the majority is almost impossible. More of the system itself, PSD - and not only - is horrified by what will come. The picture was described by the same Alexandru Athanasiu. The future statesmen will consider that they owe nothing to the party which choses them to candidate, will have a "centrifugal behavior" and will make "trans-party agreements" which will bring down political agreements and will ignore the party discipline. In other words, the future parliamentarians will not be more competent or honest, but they will have more freedom.
The discretionary power of the party's management over the parliament is in danger. Because of that, leaders like Ion Iliescu will try until the last moment to stop the uninominal.