Good evening. Here is a special issue of Romanian Dispatch.

After 12 years, the PSD has to give up Bucharest City Hall. Incumbent Gabriela Firea lost against Nicușor Dan. The PSD also lost Constanța and Iași. In this special edition on yesterday’s local elections, you will find the final results of all the races and analysis on what the implications are.

Romanian Dispatch #8 (Special Issue-September 28, 2020)

Tomorrow is Election Day. 18 million Romanians are entitled to elect the mayors and councillors who will run their towns and cities for the next four years. Bucharest City Hall is hotly contested and so are many races around the country. On Tuesday we will have a special edition dedicated to the elections, with all the results and analyses. This week the number of coronavirus infections increased again. On a high note, the Bucharest Stock Market was classified as “emerging market”. All this and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

Romanian Dispatch #7 (September 19-25, 2020)

PNL and USR-PLUS candidate for Bucharest City Hall, Nicușor Dan, came under heavy fire this week over an old audio recording in which he offers to assist an alleged underworld figure abused by the authorities. The PSD continues sabotaging the government’s drive to keep debt at bay, while thousands of Romanians signed a petition to demand swift action against high-level graft. And Romania became the first country in the Black Sea region to install US Patriot missiles to deter Putin from further westwards adventures. All this and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

Romanian Dispatch #6 (September 12-18, 2020)

Incumbent Gabriela Firea (PSD) and mayor hopeful Nicușor Dan (“candidate of the right”) are in a tight race for Bucharest City Hall, currently only separated by two percentage points. If elected, Dan promises to get rid of the capital’s six administrative sectors. Manufacturing is picking up again after the lockdown and other coranavirus measures, with a Norwegian maritime crane company opening up shop in Sfântu Gheorghe and the German Daimler Group increasing production of transmission gearboxes in Sebeș, Alba county. And according to a new study, the average download speed in Romania has tripled since last year, meaning you can read this week’s issue of Romanian Dispatch while simultaneously streaming audio and downloading a whole library in the background…

Romanian Dispatch #5 (September 4-11, 2020)

PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu gambled and lost. He did not manage to bring down the Orban government due to a low turn out of his own PSD deputies and subsequently blamed pretty much everyone for his failure and the high COVID-19 infection rates. Fortunately, there is lots of EU money coming to Romania to absorb the negative impact of the corona pandemic. And investigators determined the cause of death of the fugitive Iranian judge who was found dead in a Bucharest hotel in June. You will find out about these developments and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

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Romanian Dispatch #4 (August 29-September 4, 2020)