According to Hunor Kelemen, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) achieved its best election result in 20 years on 9 June, thanks to the trust of the Hungarian community in Transylvania. The most important task now is to replicate this success in the second half of the marathon election year.

At the Union’s Council of Representatives (SZKT) meeting in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) on Thursday, the RMDSZ president stated that the alliance is the only credible representation of Hungarians in Transylvania. He explained that the RMDSZ serves as a tool for Hungarian advocacy and as an organizer for the Hungarian community in Transylvania, with over 90 per cent of votes for Hungarian parties going to RMDSZ candidates in this year’s local elections.

Hunor Kelemen noted that

the victory of the RMDSZ is a victory for the Hungarian community in Transylvania,

demonstrating that it is a strong and independent community responsible for its own future and fate. He stressed that the Hungarian community cannot be ignored or bypassed when decisions affecting it are made in Brussels or Bucharest. He highlighted that the national vote share of 6.5 per cent and nearly 580,000 votes for the European Parliament list exceed the proportion of the Hungarian population in Romania. This, he said, is partly due to the RMDSZ speaking honestly about European issues that Romanian parties avoided during the campaign. ‘Citizens want the European Union to be closer to them; they want a European Union that addresses the concerns of citizens and communities. Therefore, we took a europragmatic stance, which naturally follows from our long-held belief that pragmatic Transylvanism should always start from the problems of the community,’ the RMDSZ president explained.

Kelemen recalled that the trust of the community on 9 June increased the number of RMDSZ mayors and local representatives. He reminded his colleagues that this year in Romania is an election marathon. ‘We need to keep up the pace; the country is preparing for presidential elections, and in winter, in December, parliamentary elections will be held. We need to be able to replicate the result we achieved on 9 June in the next six months,’ he said.

Kelemen emphasized that it is essential for the RMDSZ to perform well in the December parliamentary elections to ensure their presence in the Bucharest government, using governmental tools to support Hungarian communities and local governments. Another reason he mentioned was the possibility of making decisions in the coming period that could define a whole decade or even several decades in Romania, highlighting administrative reorganization as a potential issue. Hunor Kelemen stated that the presence of the RMDSZ in government is

crucial to counterbalance the growing anti-Hungarian extremism in Romania,

which now has the support of more than 20 per cent of voters.

Due to a disagreement among coalition parties about whether and when to hold this year’s presidential election, the RMDSZ council did not decide on the alliance’s presidential candidate, only that the RMDSZ will field a candidate. Kelemen emphasized that it is essential for the Hungarian candidate to discuss Hungarian issues during the presidential campaign and propose solutions to important questions for Romanian society as a whole. Most of the representatives at the SZKT indicated that they consider Hunor Kelemen the most suitable politician to be the Hungarian community’s candidate for the presidential election, but the formal decision on the candidate will be made only after the election date is known.

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