Week in Review: Uncertain Elections and Aspiring Candidates

An Election to Watch

Dacian Ciolos, former Romania's Prime Minister and EU Commissioner for Agriculture, the leader of the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS), addresses to supporters during a USR-PLUS alliance rally held in Bucharest, Romania, 07 November 2019. Archive photo: EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT/small>

After a string of recent elections in the region which have delivered more or less surprising outcomes, this weekend it will be the turn of Romanians to go to the polls. Does Romania hold any surprises in store, particularly as elections are held amid an ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.

The accepted wisdom is that the ruling centre-right PNL will come in first place, allowing it to lead the next government. Yet the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has dented support for the party. As a result, it will have to seek governing partners. Important to watch will also be how the once mighty Socialists will fare and whether they will, perhaps, be trounced into third place.

Read more: In Romanian Election, Reformists Eye Slice of Power (December 1, 2020)

Rising Star

Drasko Stanivukovic. Photo: PDP Archive

One of the biggest surprises of the October local elections in Bosnia was Drasko Stanivukovic, the newly elected mayor of Banja Luka, the main city of Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity. As the opposition candidate, Stanivukovic managed to unseat the ruling SNSD's Igor Radojicic in the ruling Bosnian Serb party's traditional bastion of power.

Being only 27 years old, Stanivukovic is one of the youngest senior political figures in the country. Many see him as a challenger to Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik. In our interview this week, we talk to Stanivukovic to get a sense of the man...