According to polls, the PD-L (Democrat Party) tops the list of the most trusted political parties in Bucharest and all over the country. This is why the PD-L president Emil Boc announced that any of the three possible PD-L candidates to run in the election of a general mayor for Bucharest could be a winner. But there have also been doubt and hesitation on the choice for a candidate. Why such a paradox? At least theoretically, the presidential party much spurred by the electoral engines of Traian Basescu, who tops the list of preferences as well, is standing most odds to win and take over the Bucharest City Hall. And this is not only according to poll scores. An undoubtable advantage is the party's rough and constant opposition to the present rulers, accompanied by the nation's normal wish for a change that can't avoid Bucharest. It goes despite the fact that the last three mayor of Bucharest have deen Democrats, but not Liberals or Social-Democrats. And the alliance with the political group headed by Theodor Stolojan is one more favorable element. For the idea of continuity can very easily be induced onto the Bucharest electorate. What does this mean? That, except for Traian Basescu and Adriean Videanu, the Bucharest City Hall used to be ruled by Christian-Democrats. The PD-L campaign strategists can now argue for continuity through the presence of Liberals in this party, now a people's party, meaning a right party. A PD-L victory would be a successful way to cover for the huge amount of garbage in Bucharest, at least till the time of legislative elections. Caught with the victory elation, it would be more difficult for the electorate to notice that Bucharest is a pell mell. And the electorate could anyway blame it on things different from the incompetence or corruption of the team heading the City Hall at present. And such a victory would send the presidential party to the top of Romanian politics, bringing great odds for a victory in the parliamentary elections so that the PD-L would get to make the future government. Then what and who is the PD-L afraid of, in spite of such an optimstic estimation? Why have the PD-L leaders hesitated to decide on the candidate? It is hart to do funambulism on top of the stairs, for if you take a wrong step you can fall from a great height. Or the upper stairs, the ones the PD-L is relying on, are frail. And some of them are illusionary, as a figment of a creative imagination game and of the transfer of credibility from Traian Basescu to the party. The great disadvantage is the shabby state Bucharest is in after Adriean Videanu's rule, after four years or promises that the achievements will be visible at the end of his mandate. And this is the end of his mandate, but Bucharest inhabitants' discontent is prevailing. The present mayor's future successor from the PD-L will have to persuade Bucharest inhabitants into trusting that things will change radically after two Democrat mayors, which would be a true sleight of hand. He would have to make them believe that it is others to be blamed for the tremendous failures we know. It would be easier for the political adversaries of the PD-L to attack than for the PD-L campaign team to stand by Adriean Videanu's achievements and highlight them. If the PD-L fails, it will be as important as a victory. A fall from the top of the stairs would be spectacular and very dangerous for the parliamentary election score and for President Traian Basescu's second candidacy, if there is such a thing. As for the Liberals, of candidate Ludovic Orban loses and fails to become a mayor of Bucharest, it will be no tragedy, simply because they are not among the first two rated in the top. It goes for the Social-Democrats too, for none of them has ever been a mayor of Bucharest.

Sorin ROSCA STANESCU