The last week of presidential election campaign in Romania

The last week of the campaign for the decisive round of the presidential elections has just started

Ştefan Stoica, 18.11.2019, 12:39

Next Sunday, on
November 24th, Romanians will elect their president for the next
five years. The two contenders in the decisive round are the current president
of Romania Klaus Iohannis, supported by the ruling National Liberal Party, and
Viorica Dancila, the head of the Social Democratic Party, now in opposition. In
the first round, Iohannis got 38% of the votes, and Dancila approximately 22%.

Therefore, fighting for the highest position in the state are the main figures
of the left and right wings in Romania. There will be no direct electoral confrontation
between them, as Klaus Iohannis has repeatedly stated he cannot have a debate
with the representative of a party which he considers undemocratic, a party
that, for three years, tried to subjugate justice and acted against the
Romanian citizens. A direct debate would render the Social Democratic candidate
legitimate, and Iohannis says Ms. Dancila does not deserve it.

In turn, the
former Prime Minister of Romania, Viorica Dancila, says that Iohannis has an
extremist discourse, based on hate. It’s the approach of a man who wants to
divide Romanian society, and Romania needs a mediator president, a president
that would restore balance, Viorica Dancila has stated. She has also said she
is not at war with anybody, unlike her opponent.

The two
contenders are supported by the biggest political parties in the country. As
regards the voters, Klaus Iohannis counts on middle-aged employed citizens,
with an average education, while Ms. Dancila is favoured by pensioners, with
elementary or average education. They both count on their own electorate, and
also hope to attract those who, in the first round, voted for other candidates.

In the first
round, the turnover at national level stood at only 48%, the lowest rate ever
recorded at a presidential election. On the other hand, encouraged by the new
regulations regarding the voting procedure, Romanians in the Diaspora voted in
large numbers, reaching a record 650,000. Adding to them were some 25,000
voters who chose postal voting, a first in Romania.

In the first round,
the Romanians living abroad had three days to cast their vote, from Friday
until Sunday. The same will happen at the second round. This measure was taken
in order to prevent what happened at the 2014 presidential elections and also
at the elections for the European Parliament this May, when people queued for
hours and many of them didn’t even manage to cast their vote. Also, the number
of polling stations set up abroad was doubled, reaching 835. Most of them will
be organized in Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and France. In Romania,
people will be able to vote on just one day, Sunday, November 24th.