Romania heads for presidential elections

19/11/2009

With few debates, the campaign followed the classic post-communist pattern of personal attacks.

By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest -- 19/11/09

Two of the main competitors in the race are incumbent President Traian Basescu and social-democrat Mircea Geoana. [Gabriel Petrescu/SETimes]

Around 18 million Romanians are expected to hit the polls Sunday (November 22nd) to elect the country's next president to a five-year term. Twelve candidates have joined the race, which is set to head to a second round of voting on December 6th.

The elections carry a higher stake than ever since Romania has been embroiled in a severe political crisis for the past month, which has worsened the country's recession.

Romanians will also vote on a controversial referendum on a single-chamber parliament called by Basescu -- a move deeply contested by his opponents. Two weeks ago, several NGOs asked the ombudsman to intervene and split the two electoral events, arguing the referendum unjustly raises Basescu's chances of winning.

A recent report by the OSCE, which will have 25 observers monitoring the elections across the country, warns the campaign has been dominated by the referendum issue.

The main competitors in the race -- incumbent President Traian Basescu, social-democrat Mircea Geoana, liberal Crin Antonescu and Bucharest's mayor Sorin Oprescu -- have shown little creativity in deploying their campaigns, sticking to classic rallies and feeble attempts to win over internet users.

The four failed to attend the first broadcasted debate, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Basescu and Antonescu faced off in a debate hosted November 14th by a university in Cluj-Napoca.

A poll commissioned and published on Wednesday by daily Evenimentul Zilei showed that Basescu (33%) and Geona (30%) are likely to compete in the runoff, with the liberal Antonescu (18%) lagging behind. The second round will be won by the social-democrat leader, beating Basescu 51-49, according to the poll, which was conducted by the Centre for Urban and Regional Sociology (CURS).

With a relatively stable electorate in the cities, Basescu turned his attention to rural regions. Geoana sought to consolidate his voters, but also to gain more in historic regions, such as Transylvania, where the incumbent president fares better.

"I will vote as the president is to me the most visible on the political stage. And I will vote because I want to see Romania back on the upwards economical course. I don't believe though in the efficiency of the referendum because it takes such a complex process to finally get to a single-chamber parliament and I doubt it will come to an end after the elections are over," said Bucharest political science student Razvan Mihalascu, 24.

Those in the rest of the country are less enthusiastic. "I mistake political talk-shows during the campaign with sitcoms. Plus that I've got to know their content by heart since it hasn't pretty much changed since the last elections -- promises and promises," says Maria Mihalache, a 38- year-old dressmaker in Vaslui.

"If it wasn't for the referendum, I wouldn't go to the polls this Sunday," she added.