November 7, 2014 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 07.11.2014, 12:30
The Constitutional Court of Romania on Friday validated the outcome of the first round in the presidential election and the two candidates to be competing in the runoff on November 16th. The two remaining in the presidential race are, Social-Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta, backed by the ruling alliance made up of the Social-Democrats, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservatives, who got 40.44% of the votes, and that of the Christian-Liberal Alliance of the center-right opposition, the incumbent mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, who got 30.37% of the votes. In the runoff Ponta will be backed by several candidates who are no longer in the race, such as former Liberal Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, two populist candidates, Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Dan Diaconescu respectively as well as the former head of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service Teodor Melescanu. His counter-candidate Klaus Iohannis will be supported by center-right independent candidate and former Justice minister Monica Macovei and by Elena Udrea, leader of the pro-presidential opposition party, the People’s Movement. The co-ruling Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, has advised its supporters to vote the candidate they like.
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean on Friday said the law does not allow either the setting up of new polling stations abroad or the extension of the period of voting, but more polling booths and stamps will be added in order to ease voting during the presidential runoff on November 16th. Corlatean has added that the Foreign Ministry will provide additional personnel to disseminate statutory declaration forms among the electorate abroad. According to the minister, the entire board of the Foreign Ministry will travel to Romanian missions abroad to check on all the preparations for the upcoming presidential runoff. On Friday in Bucharest the minister met the heads of the Romanian diplomatic missions in countries that reported some issues related to the unfolding of the election process. Last Sunday Romanians in the Diaspora reportedly spent hours in queues at the polling stations and some of them were unable to vote. Among the stations that reported problems during the election were those in London, Munich, Chisinau, Stuttgart and Paris.
Romanian and US troops on Friday participated in a military exercise on detecting submarines and air threats in the Black Sea. Destroyer USS Ross, two corvettes, a helicopter and two Romanian planes joined the exercise, which is part of the measures aimed at raising confidence and security in the Black Sea. In another development, the United States announced it had successfully carried out tests in the Pacific Ocean with the modernized anti-missile system AEGIS, which is included in the defence network to become operational in Romania in 2015 as part of NATO’s anti-missile shield in Europe.
The unprecedented strike put up by the train drivers of rail operator Deutsche Bahn is due to come to an end on Saturday night, trade union leaders announced on Friday, adding that ending the strike is a gesture of coming to terms. The strike, which seriously disrupted traffic in Germany, was supposed to last until Monday. Trade unionists, who have already rejected a Deutsche Bahn proposal, are claiming a reduced working week and a pay rise of 5%. In another development over 100 thousand people took to the streets of Brussels on Thursday to protest the austerity measures announced by Belgium’s right wing government led by Charles Michel.
Romania’s football champions, Steaua Bucharest, held Portuguese side Rio Ave to a two-all draw on Thursday night in a game counting towards Europa League Group J. With 7 points, Steaua ranks second in its group after Ukrainian side Dinamo Kiev, who defeated on home ground Danish team Aalborg, 2-0. Also on Thursday in Group D, Romanian vice-champions, Astra Giurgiu, ended 1-all their home match against Celtic Glasgow from Scotland, thus blowing all chances to qualify into the European spring. In this group, Red Bull Salzburg of Austria has already qualified, after defeating Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb.
