Cav's Place

Note (May, 2012): I fear I must distance myself from the affirmation made in this post’s title. It is possible that it would have been true if him and the Green Party would have somehow bridged their differences, but since they failed to do so and went their separate ways, they have both added to the long list of disappointments, Remus and his new party now being even higher on it than the Green Party, unfortunately.

Sunday was the first round of our presidential elections. The fact that Traian Basescu and Mircea Geoana were going to make it to the second round was extremely obvious, but ten others decided to try their luck as well. Some of them truly desired to become president, others perhaps merely dreamed of it, but I’m quite sure that one of them didn’t want the position at all. I’m talking about Remus Cernea, who enlisted in the Green Party shortly before the start of the campaign in order to become their candidate.
So why did he run if he didn’t want to become president? To create visibility for both himself and the Green Party, of course. For himself because he keeps fighting against the “system” and such visibility will improve both the credibility of his future campaigns and his chances of obtaining funding when he requires it; for the Green Party because they’re new on the Romanian political scene and could only obtain fractions of a percent so far.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this pairing was that the Green Party can perhaps be noted for a moderate environmental doctrine and little else, while Remus Cernea is a strong advocate of nondiscrimination, of the rights and freedoms of all individuals, of the separation of church and state and several other related concepts. Proof of this is that, when asked why did he choose to join the Green Party, he said that he can work well with their doctrine, that there are no conflicts between their doctrine and his ideals. And that’s true, the Green Party’s doctrine and Remus Cernea’s ideals can work together very well, but they’re different things, so the situation could be better described as the independent candidate Remus Cernea being supported by the Green Party. This was painfully obvious whenever he was invited to a show during the campaign, since he promoted his own ideas whenever he was given the chance and didn’t appear too thrilled when he was asked to talk about environmental issues, simply because that used up time he would have preferred to use to talk about something else.
Because of that, some of the people who noticed that something wasn’t quite right were likely inclined to dismiss the whole thing as yet another one of the many tricks that politicians try to play. And that should have really been avoided, because a recent survey showed that, for example, 92% of Romanians discriminate against homosexuals, so a person who supports nondiscrimination would already have a dreadful time gaining approval even without a potentially suspicious behavior. True, any publicity is good publicity, so the fact that his stance is very much against that of the majority means that some people have at least heard of him already and others are likely to hear of him when his position will generate some controversy. It’s also true that, considering the Green Party’s target of obtaining the required 5% to make it into the parliament at the next elections, they could potentially focus just on the minorities. But when the message itself becomes confusing, when it’s obvious that the party and the candidate are talking about different things, it’s hard to gain any significant support.
What’s more, perhaps his main theme was the unfair and restrictive electoral law, which is a discussion that I’m sure the vast majority of potential voters just tuned out because it truly is irrelevant at the current time. It was obviously too late to change it for the current elections and it’s too early to start talking about it for the next ones, which are scheduled for 2012. Talking about the environment would have attracted a certain segment of the population and also bridged the gap between the party and their candidate, while boldly tackling the most sensitive matters when it comes to discrimination would have obviously gone well with the minorities in question, but this approach likely drove away more people than it attracted…

Still, it can be somehow understandable. He has never been involved in politics before and the party is new and inexperienced. I can only hope that they’ll know better next time and take proper advantage of anything they might have gained in this campaign, because they truly are better than just the lesser evil.
The Green Party in Romania is far from what it should be, even as far as their doctrine goes, but it is a little step in the right direction, while all major parties represent either steps or true leaps in various wrong directions. And activists like Remus Cernea are more than needed in important positions in this day and age. Yes, I always admitted that he’s completely unsuited for the role of president, but there are plenty of other positions where him or others like him could do a world of good.
You should note that all the criticism posted above was strictly about this campaign, so it should come as no surprise when I say that I truly wish to see the Green Party making it into the parliament at the next elections and perhaps also see Remus Cernea appointed in a position that’ll offer him the chance to truly influence the country’s direction in the areas that interest him. That’ll be very hard, considering the mere 0.62% of voters that he managed to persuade this time around, but it’s not impossible if the lessons will be properly learned…

As for the second round of the elections, I must add that Traian Basescu is still, in my opinion, by far the lesser evil at the current moment. Right now we need a strong and determined president, who also enjoys sufficient support to have a chance of subduing certain interest groups, many of which are in some way connected with his opponent’s party, and he’s the only actor on the current political scene to meet those requirements. Sure, he has his own “clients” as well and the direction he’ll attempt to steer the country towards is far from the best one, but I honestly feel that his “clients” and ideas are significantly less dangerous than the alternative.
Perhaps a truly good candidate will somehow appear in 2014, maybe even from the Green Party, but until then I have to stick to my usual rule: Vote for the party or candidate whose values are closest to yours in the first round and against the one who’ll either directly cause or indirectly allow the most harm to come to you and your city, country or world in the second round. This rule made me vote for Remus Cernea in the first round, and this rule will make me vote for Traian Basescu in the second round.