November 10, 2019 UPDATE

ELECTION The incumbent president, Klaus Iohannis, backed by the ruling National Liberal Party, and the former Social Democratic PM Viorica Dancila will run in the second round of the presidential election in Romania on November 24, according to exit polls figures made public on Sunday night, after the first round. Iohannis got 39% of the votes, and Dancila some 22%. Third-ranking is the leader of Save Romania Union, Dan Barna, with 16%. All the other candidates got under 10% of the votes. These figures do not include the ballots cast abroad. According to the Central Electoral Bureau, the turnout was 47.66%. The election continues abroad, with polling stations closing on Monday morning on the US West Coast.

Newsroom, 10.11.2019, 21:15

EARTHQUAKE A 3.8 Richter earthquake was reported on Sunday in Vrancea, south-eastern Romania. The strongest earthquake this year in the country, 4.7 on the Richter scale, took place on May 18. On March 4, 1977, a 7.2 earthquake, the strongest to hit Romania, killed 1,570 people, mostly in Bucharest, and caused damages put at over 2 billion US dollars at that time. With 230,000 homes and hundreds of businesses destroyed, the tremor caused a social and economic crisis which, according to historians, the communist regime was unable to overcome until its collapse in 1989. Specialists warn that a similar earthquake to the one in 1977 may bring down hundreds of buildings in Bucharest.

FOOTBALL Romanias national football team convened on Sunday night in Bucharest to prepare the last games in Group F of the 2020 European Championship qualifiers: on Friday, October 15, they are playing at home against Sweden, and on Monday October 18, away from home in Spain. Spain tops the group with 20 points, followed by Sweden with 15, Romania with 14, Norway with 11, Malta and the Faroe Islands, with 3 points each. The top 2 teams in each group move into the final tournament. The draw for Euro 2020 takes place in Bucharest on November 30. The Romanian capital city will also host 4 matches in the final tournament, 3 in the group stage and one eighth-final.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)