Today, approximately 19 million Romanian voters have the opportunity to participate in the election to succeed President Klaus Iohannis, who cannot run again after two elections. Thirteen candidates are vying for the top job, but it is not expected to be decided until a second round on December 8, in which the two strongest candidates advance. Today’s voting is scheduled to end at 20:00 CET.
Fifty-six-year-old Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu from the post-communist Social Democracy is considered to be the favorite in the elections, to whom polls assign around 25 percent of the vote. But tensions are being raised by a close race for second place, which, according to polls, will be contested by the head of the far-right parliamentary party Union for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) George Simion (38) and the leader of the center-right opposition group Save Romania Elena Lasconiová (52). According to other polls, former prime minister Nicolae Ciuca (57), the chairman of the upper house of parliament, is also in the running for the second round, the APA agency wrote. She reminded that Romanians can also vote abroad, where the authorities have opened 950 polling stations.
Simion’s popularity has soared against the background of record inflation, the rate of which reached ten percent last year. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Simion has repeatedly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but in the election campaign he opposed the supply of weapons to Ukraine, which is defending itself in the third year of Russian aggression and with which Romania shares a border. They also accused the far-right politician of contacts with the Russian secret services, which Simion denied and replied that he leads the party most hostile to Russia. The leader of the AUR is also known as a Eurosceptic and has become famous for his statements against homosexuals. He advocates the unification of Romania and Moldova. Chisinau repeatedly banned him from entering the country, the BBC News server recalled on its Russian-language website.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Romania has been playing an increasingly important role in NATO. Bucharest opened a training center in the country to retrain pilots for US F-16 fighter jets and also provided Ukraine with part of its Patriot air defense systems.
Given that Romania is a semi-presidential republic, the role and powers of the head of state are by no means purely representative. According to the constitution, the head of state has strong powers in matters of foreign and defense policy, APA noted.
Between the first and second rounds of presidential elections, Romania will hold parliamentary elections on December 1, which will decide on a new government.
Source: www.tyden.cz
