Some 18 million Romanians are eligible to go to the polls on June 5 | Photo: roaep.ro

The lack of serious debate, right-wing disunity and one-round elections are all factors favouring the left-wing Social Democrats in Sunday’s local polls, analysts say.

Some 18 million Romanians are eligible to vote on June 5 to elect new local representatives, when around 44,000 people will be installed in public office.

The campaign has been calm and almost absent from the public agenda, with no serious debates taking place over issues such as administrative reform and corruption – the same issues that galvanised voters in past elections.

“The absence of a second round is a major advantage for the PSD, the only party with an electoral bloc that is consistent enough to succeed in a competition marked by anonymity,” political analyst Ioan Stanomir said.

“For the PSD, mass mobilization of the electorate is a terrible risk that needs to be avoided. The memory of the presidential election from 2014 is still alive – and civic emotion is an alarming enemy [for them],” Stanomir said, recalling the unexpected victory of Klaus Iohannis against the PSD favourite, Victor Ponta.

Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea is so confident that his party is going to win the local elections that he recently said he would resign if it did badly. “If we lose and come second in the elections, I will certainly resign,” Dragnea said.

The case of the capital, Bucharest, is representative of the wider political situation in Romania.

Gabriela Vranceanu Firea is standing as the Social Democrat candidate for Bucharest City Hall and all the opinion polls credit her with the best chance of becoming the next mayor.

The failure of the right-wing parties to unite is seen as one of the other causes of the PSD’s expected success.

“Arithmetically, the other non-PSD candidates – Catalin Predoiu, Nicusor Dan and Robert Turcescu – gather over 40 per cent of the votes and are fighting for a useless second place,” journalist Andreea Pora said.

“If all of them shook hands and two quit in favour of the one with the highest chances, Firea could be defeated,” Pora added, noting, however, that elections do not work out like that in practice.