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Alfred Simonis, president of Timiș County Council: “I am willing to support the PNL-USR candidate in the elections for Timișoara City Hall, but they must be from the PNL”

Gabriel Dumitrache

16 October 2026, 13:38

Politics

Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea

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The leader of the Timiș PSD, Alfred Simonis, declared on Friday that he is willing to support a candidate proposed by the PNL and USR in possible by-elections for Timișoara City Hall, provided that the candidate is a member of Timiș PNL. The election could be organized after Dominic Fritz’s mandate became vacant.

Simonis criticized the pressure exerted on Timiș liberals to accept a formula under which USR would obtain support for Timișoara City Hall without PNL receiving a local political advantage. He accused the leader of PNL Arad, Gheorghe Falcă, of trying to negotiate support for Timișoara in the context of the political situation in Arad.

The president of Timiș PSD stated that his offer remains valid regardless of the decision of the national leadership of the PNL and that his party could even support a joint PNL-USR candidate, if that candidate comes from the liberals’ ranks. However, Simonis ruled out the possibility of running himself and said that PSD could enter the race with its own candidate. PSD and PNL have a political and administrative cooperation protocol at the level of Timiș County, negotiated in 2024.

Context: Timișoara is left without a mayor, while USR makes political alliances conditional on excluding PSD

Mayor Dominic Fritz’s mandate has become vacant, and there have been public disputes over how he lost his office. Alfred Simonis said that he regretted the situation, but argued that Fritz would also have lost his mandate in the 2028 elections, citing a legal cause related to violating the law through an administrative act.

Meanwhile, PSD accused the USR prefect of Timiș of abuse of office for allegedly maintaining the mayor’s mandate after a final court ruling. The Social Democrats called for action to challenge the prefect’s order and also mentioned an amendment to the ANI law, which would provide for the automatic loss of office by those subject to final rulings establishing incompatibility or a conflict of interest.

In this context, USR stated that it would not enter government if the future executive included PSD ministers and supported the idea of snap elections. At the same time, Dominic Fritz spoke about being open to political negotiations, including with PNL, but subject to conditions regarding the composition of the executive and the rejection of a “shield for PSD”.