Former President Traian Basescu believes that Victor Ponta’s candidacy in the 2014 presidential election was a mistake, Agerpres reports.
'He had no place in the presidential competition. He was prime minister. I think that those who pushed him in the front did it in good faith, they had no other alternative, only the option of Dragnea, who was still not very compromised at the time and he would have coped as well as Ponta '' said Basescu, in a B1 program.
In his view, Prime Minister Ponta 'entered the presidential elections with a huge handicap ', because of the erosion of his public image.
'' He thought he had to fight against me for two and a half years. He entered (the race) already eroded, he came in as a plagiarist, he came in as a liar, he came in with RAFO (...) Klaus Iohannis came in as the edelweiss from the mountains of Sibiu, '' added Traian Basescu.
At the same time he criticized Ponta's campaign strategy, claiming it was wrong and stressing that the prime minister’s opponent was Iohannis not the president in office.
''Who has taught them that? I was a shadow. Why were you fighting with the shadow for? I was not running. What business did you have with me? '' Basescu added.