Romania Parliament 2012

[minionofmidas]

Apparently, Ponta wants to set up a coalition between his USL and the UDMR (Hungarians), which would have a 2/3 majority that could change the constitution.

Presumably to get rid of this ridiculous system? But then again, if he'sa left-wing version of Orban, that might not be such a good thing...

A left wing version of Orban would not be able to form a coalition with an ethnic minority party, or at least not keep it long.

[minionofmidas]

It doesn't make sense in several other areas; Ponta's party comes from the other side (so to speak) of the typical postcommunist political framework to Orban's, for one thing.

A man can still be a megalomaniac with no comprehension of or respect for democracy and complete control of his own party. (I have no idea what to make of Ponta, really. It's clear that the authors of *some* of his bad press have no idea either, and it's clear what motivates them, but that's not a statement about Ponta.)

But try governing like that with a coalition partner looking out first and foremost for his own stable voting bloc, and not actually indebted to you. That's not going to work.

[minionofmidas]

One of my best friends is Romanian and he thinks Ponta is bad even by Romanian standards.

I have heard similar, also from an Romanian immigrant. Though my experience is that Eastern European immigrants tend to skew to the right. After all, most Romanian voters don't seem to think that Ponta is that bad.

Correct, working class doesn't emigrate.

Yes, they do. But they don't speak to people like Gustaf.

Who do you think is building all the new condos gentrifying our cities? Romanians, Bulgarians, Kosovars. Indirectly employed under absurdly complex tax-saving schemes, housed in squalor, and getting cheated out of half the money they were promised and were hoping to take back home at the end of the season.