21 November, 2019

Election campaign for second round of presidential elections on Sunday continues./ Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu attends NATO meeting./ 26th Gaudeamus Book Fair organised by Radio Romania is under way.

Newsroom, 21.11.2019, 14:00

Elections. The election campaign ahead of the second round of Romania’s
presidential elections on Sunday continues until Saturday morning at 7 am local
time. The incumbent president Klaus Iohannis, who is endorsed by the National
Liberal Party, now in power, is facing the former Social Democrat prime
minister Viorica Dancila. According to the Permanent Election Authority, the
total number of registered voters is 18,217,411. In
the first round, which saw 14 candidates in the race, Iohannis won almost 38%
of the votes and Dancila a little over 22%. Voter turnout stood at 51.19%. In
the diaspora, where voting took place over three days, a record turnout was
reported, with 675,000 people casting their ballots. The second round of voting
is also taking place over three days abroad: on Friday between 12 am and 9 pm
and on Saturday and Sunday between 7 am and 9 pm, with the possibility for the
voting to be extended until midnight. The foreign ministry has already distributed
the materials needed for the voting process abroad. 4,608,1754 ballots
were distributed among the 835 polling stations set up abroad, 100,000 more
ballots than was requested in the first round.

USR. 75% of the members of the Save Romania Union, the third largest
party in Parliament, want Dan Barna to remain president of the party, according
to the results of an online ballot, the remaining 25% wanting him to resign.
Barna said previously he was ready to hand in his resignation, following
disappointment over his performance in the presidential elections, when he
failed to reach the second round. Barna got 15% of the votes, which is below
the result of the USR-PLUS alliance in the European elections last May, where
they won 22% of the vote.

NATO. The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu told a NATO ministerial
meeting in Brussels that Romania does not share the view that the Alliance is
in crisis and underlined that NATO’s adjustment process should continue. At the
end of the meeting, NATO secretary general Jens
Stoltenberg reiterated that NATO remains the ultimate guarantee of European and
transatlantic security. On the sidelines of the meeting, Bogdan Aurescu also
had talks with the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, saying Romania will
continue to take part in foreign military missions and allocate 2% of GDP
spending to defence and give priority to putting into practice the two
memoranda signed recently by the two sides on cooperation in the civilian nuclear field and that of 5G infrastructure. The Romanian minister also had talks with his
counterparts from France, Croatia, Estonia and Norway.

Fair. The 26th edition of the
Gaudeamus Book Fair organised by Radio Romania is under way in Bucharest. Today’s
programme features book launches and talks with writers, historians and experts
from various fields, as well as debates on topics such as contemporary poetry
in various interpretations and writers who opposed dictatorships. 900 different
events are scheduled over the five days of the fair and 230 exhibitors are showcasing
their products, from very diverse fields. This year’s edition of the fair is
dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the anti-communist revolution
of December 1989. The poet Mircea Dinescu and the actor Ion Caramitru, who were
prominent figures of the revolution, are honorary co-presidents of the fair.

Handball. The Romanian men’s handball side Dinamo Bucharest have theoretically
won Champions League Group D after defeating the Russian side Chekhovskie
Medvedi 34-23 at home on Wednesday night. Dinamo, who had already booked their
tickets for the League play-offs, have 15 points and are followed by the Polish
side Orlen Wisla Plock and the Danish side GOG Gudme, with 9 points each. In their
final group match, Dinamo are facing Gudme away on the 1st of
December. We recall that in women’s handball, both the Romanian champions SCM
Ramnicu Valcea and the vice-champions CSM Bucharest have advanced to the Champions
League main round, with matches scheduled to take place at the start of next
year.