Voters in
Romania are going to the polls in an election to choose a new president. Current
Socialist Prime Minister Victor Ponta is widely considered to be the favorite,
despite accusations of corruption.
Deutsche Welle, 2 Nov 2014
Polling
stations opened in Romania on Sunday as voters cast their ballots to elect anew leader to replace outgoing President Traian Basescu.
The two
frontrunners are Socialist Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Klaus Iohannis, the
leader of the center-right National-Liberal Party and mayor of the
Transylvanian city of Sibiu. Opinion polls suggest that none of the remaining
12 candidates has enough support to provide serious competition.
If no
candidate obtains an absolute majority of more than 50 percent of the vote on
Sunday, a runoff vote will be held on November 16.
Both of the
main candidates focused largely on the issue of corruption during their
campaigns, with Romania still subject to European Union supervision on the
issue.
The country
of 19 million joined the EU in 2007 under tight EU monitoring of its judicial
system in view of persistent problems with corruption and organized crime.
Election
promises
Ponta, a
trained lawyer, is considered the favorite to win the elections despite himself
facing accusations that he had put pressure on prosecutors investigating his
political allies on suspicion of corruption.
His critics
have also expressed fears that if he wins the election, he could use the post
of president, which is otherwise largely ceremonial, to influence the
appointment of prosecutors, thus giving him power over the judiciary. The
president is also in charge of defense and foreign policy and of naming
ambasssadors and the heads of the country's two main intelligence agencies.
The
42-year-old Ponta has pledged to reduce taxes, raise pensions while stressing
the need to maintain good relations with both the EU and China. He also
recently announced an increase of 10 percent in wages in the medical sector,
further boosting his popularity.
If he is
elected president, his parliamentary bloc will choose a replacement premier
without early elections being necessary.
Incumbent
President Basescu is barred from running in the election, having served two
five-year terms.
tj/pfd (dpa, AP)
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