October 25 (SeeNews) - Romania's National Liberal Party (PNL), which comes second in the latest opinion polls after the Social Democrats PSD, has designated current prime minister Dacian Ciolos as its candidate for the country's next premier ahead of the parliamentary elections due in December.
A recent poll commissioned by PNL in October and conducted by Political Rating Agency, ARP, showed that 38% of Romanians would vote for PSD, 30% would support PNL and 9% would back Social Union Romania (USR) party, which is not represented in the current parliament.
Concerning the future prime minister, 23% of Romanians would vote for Victor Ponta, while 22% would prefer Dacian Ciolos. Some 6% want Calin Popescu Tariceanu as prime minister, leader of the Liberal Democrat Alliance (ALDE) and current head of the Senate, according to the ARP poll.
The PNL's leadership unanimously voted for Ciolos as the party's candidate for prime minister after the general elections on December 11, PNL said in a press release on Monday. According to PNL leader Alina Gorghiu, the naming of Ciolos is not dependent on him enrolling into the party.
Ciolos has repeatedly said that he will not join any political party during or after his mandate. However, recently he launched an online platform named "Romania 100", which features 10 healthy principles for a citizen-oriented future governing. PNL has said that it will build its government programme taking into account Ciolos' platform.
The ARP poll, for which 1170 adults were interviewed, has a margin of error of +/-2.9%.
The most recent independent poll, made by INSCOP Research institute in April, showed that PSD would attract 38% of vote and that PNL would get 37.2% support.
Technocrat Dacian Ciolos replaced Victor Ponta as prime minister in November 2015 when thousands rallied in the streets of Bucharest with demands that a government of experts be set up.