Biography
He became well known for his very strong nationalist stance favoring ethnic Romanians in Cluj-Napoca, which is a multi-ethnic city with an ethnic Romanian majority (80.8%) and a significant ethnic Hungarian population (17.1%). Other ethnic groups include Roma and Germans. Cluj-Napoca is considered to be the capital city of Transylvania, a historical region within Romania and before that Hungary.
Funar was a candidate for presidency for the Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) in 1992 and 1996. In 1997, after he was expelled from PUNR, he joined the far-right Greater Romania Party. Funar lost the Cluj-Napoca mayoral elections in the first round in 2004. Emil Boc of the Justice and Truth Alliance won the elections during the second round run-off elections against Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate Ioan Rus. He ran again in 2008, coming in fourth with 4.2% of the vote.
Funar is currently the General Secretary of the Greater Romania Party and is a Member of Parliament. Among his proposals in parliament is the distribution of Romanian-language Bibles to all citizens, and the raising of a statue of Mihai Eminescu in every commune.
He is married to Sabina Funar, a professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca.
Read more about this topic: Gheorghe Funar
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)