REQUIEM FOR A MIDDLEWEIGHT: THE CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRAT

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000109

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV RO
SUBJECT: REQUIEM FOR A MIDDLEWEIGHT: THE CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRAT
NATIONAL PEASANT,S PARTY CONGRESS



1. (SBU) The Christian-Democrat National Peasant's Party
(PNTCD) held its congress on January 21, electing Marian
Milut as president to replace failed 2004 presidential
candidate and current mayor of Timisoara, Gheorghe Ciuhandu.
A businessman, Milut has had a unremarkable political career.
In 2004, Milut was the Popular Alliance (AP) presidential
Candidate, garnering less than one-half of a percent of the
popular vote. (Note: The AP was a PNTCD splinter party
following the PNTCD's loss in Parliament in 2000. End Note.)
Milut returned to the PNTCD, and won a decisive victory over
two PNTCD rivals at the 2007 Party Congress (522 votes versus
124 and 110 votes respectively). His platform called "PNTCD
- European party" pledged to return the party to parliament
in the 2008 general elections.


2. (SBU) Though PNTCD does not have a significant electoral
following, it is a sentimental "favorite brand" for its role
in the fierce political struggles of the early nineties. The
PNTCD along with its former leader Corneliu Coposu, were the
vanguard of anti-Communist opposition during the difficult
political transition following Ceaucescu's fall. Because of
its historical stature, both the Democratic Party (PD) and
the National Liberal Party (PNL) sent senior emissaries to
the PNTCD convention in an attempt to woo PNTCD leaders and
rank-and-file, reminiscent of the old political alliance
that formed in the immediate post-communist period. Milut
announced that he would work for rapprochement with the PM
Tariceanu,s PNL.

What is the PNTCD?


3. (SBU) The PNTCD is not in the government, and only holds
between one and two percent in the polls. It has a symbolic
importance because the PNTCD is, along with Tariceanu,s PNL,
one of the "historical parties" of Romania. PNTCD following
the 1989 revolution was the first registered party and the
primary anti-communist opposition party. It was the driving
force of the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR),the
alliance of anti-communist parties that formed the main
parliamentary opposition between 1992 and 1996, and then
formed the 1996-2000 government, within which the PNTCD was
the dominant party. Following a series of harsh political
reforms initiated by the PNTCD, and the loss of their rural
based constituency, the party lost its parliamentary
representation in 2000, and has not recovered.


4. (SBU) Following its 2000 defeat, the PNTCD was abandoned
by many of its leaders who formed various splinter parties,
such as the Popular Alliance (AP) which was initiated and led
by the PNTCD-supported president Emil Constantinescu
(1996-2000). Although its orientation is similar to those of
the Democratic Party (PD),the PD is blamed for taking much
of the PNTCD constituency.


5. (SBU) Comment: There are serious doubts on whether Milut
can lead the party back to Parliament in 2008. The PNTCD's
appeal to Tariceanu is probably its last gasp for relevancy
before fading away. End Comment.
TAUBMAN