Vasile Blaga: Separately, PNL and PDL stand no chance to win presidential election

Chairman of the opposition's Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) Vasile Blaga said on Tuesday evening that separately, PDL and the National Liberal Party (PNL) stand no chance to win the upcoming presidential election, but after they merge, the person they will pick as their common candidate has the best odds to defeat Social Democrat Victor Ponta.

Blaga said that all three politicians endorsed as candidates — specifically Catalin Predoiu, Crin Antonescu and Klaus Iohannis — have chances to win the presidential election.

"We will run in the presidential election as an alliance, our decision-making bodies established that we should field a single candidate of the Right. (...) We design this arrangement in order to enhance our chances in the presidential elections, and my opinion is that the candidate we will support, whether this is Mr. Predoiu, Mr. Klaus Iohannis, or Mr. Crin Antonescu — and I mention only those about whom we know they can make it to the second round — are people who are likely to win the Presidency of Romania. Separately none of these parties stands a chance, but together their chances are much higher. We don't make this construction just for the presidential race, we do it for medium—and long-term Romania, we also do it for the general elections in 2016," Vasile Blaga said in a televised show.

He mentioned once again that the name of the candidate will be made public around August 3, pointing out that no matter who this will be, he stands real chances to defeat Premier Victor Ponta in the presidential race.

"You will learn who the candidate with the highest chances is around August 3 — 4. We endorse Catalin Predoiu until the last minute, that is until the outcomes of the joint PNL-PDL opinion...