How people in some areas vote is inherently unpredictable. In the latest municipal elections, some candidates spent thousands of euros on electoral campaigns trying to win the mayor’s seat and ended up with nothing, while one guy in Belényes/Beiuș had only 10 posters placed around a city of 10,000 and didn’t promise a thing during his campaign. The posters didn’t propel him into the mayor’s seat, but he did score a major win: Alexandru Degău was voted in as a local councilor.
We were wondering whether 20 posters would have been enough for him to become mayor!
According to Romanian newspaper Adevărul, 248 people voted for this man to be mayor without a single promise or vision, and 383 people cast their votes for him to land a position on the local council. To become a local councilor, you have to get at least 300 votes.
Degău decided to run for the mayor’s seat in the municipal elections as an independent candidate because he was frustrated by the local authority refusing to answer his awkward questions on spending transparency. He submitted countless letters to the local authority asking them to show how they spend taxpayers’ money, but his requests went unanswered every time.
According to Adevărul, Degău is a sportsman: He holds a black belt in martial arts and won the title of European Champion. As the son of the former director of the National Bank’s Bihar/Bihor subsidiary, he had plenty of opportunities to go into the family business but preferred physical work instead, the report notes.
Title image: Degău’s poster. Image source: Adevărul
