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Libby Wilson / Stuff
Ion Aliman was re-elected in a landslide for an unprecedented third term as mayor of Deveselu village despite having died from Covid-19 complications 10 days before the country’s municipal elections. (File photo)
After winning Ion Aliman in the elections for his local mayor, the residents of a small village in southern Romania went to his grave to light candles for him.
Aliman was re-elected in a landslide for an unprecedented third term as mayor of Deveselu village despite having died from Covid-19 complications 10 days before the country’s municipal elections.
His death came too late to remove his name from Sunday’s vote, but word of his passing quickly spread through the town, home to just over 3,000 people. The popular headline would have celebrated his 57th birthday on election day.
To honor the man they admired, hundreds of Deveselu villagers went to polling stations on Sunday and voted for Aliman anyway.
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After preliminary election results showed Sunday night that Aliman had won 1,057 of the 1,600 votes cast in Deveselu, a large group of villagers visited his grave to light candles and pay their respects.
A video that was widely shared on social media showed people with flashlights and candles gathered around Aliman’s grave, some of whom said “This is your victory” and “We will make you proud, we know that from somewhere above you are looking”.
Aliman was a member of the left-wing Social Democratic Party, known as PSD, and so is his deputy, Nicolae Dobre, who told a local television station, Digi24, that “none of the other contenders got the same trust from voters. “
When asked if he voted for Aliman, Dobre said: “I sure do.”
The electoral victory in Deveselu was good news, but only a little consolation for the PSD, as partial preliminary results showed on Monday that they had lost the most followed contest: that of the mayor of the capital, Bucharest.
The PSD nearly conceded the electoral defeat of its incumbent commander to the candidate backed by the center-right National Liberal Party, or PNL, which has controlled Romania’s minority government since last fall.
The PSD had been in power until its government lost a vote of confidence in parliament amid massive popular protests in the country and strong criticism of Brussels for its attacks on the judiciary and widespread corruption.
About 19 million registered voters in Romania on Sunday elected local officials, council chairs and mayors to fill more than 43,000 seats across the country. The elections were seen as a preview of how the next general elections will unfold.
Based on partial preliminary results, the PSD is unlikely to regain power in the parliamentary vote on December 6. But they got a resounding victory at Deveselu.
