Est. 2min 26-11-2004 (updated: 05-06-2012 ) Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram On the eve of the 28 November presidential vote, the race between Adrian Nastase and Traian Basescu remains too close to call, reports EURACTIV’s Romanian partner portal site. The two hottest contenders for the post – whose holder will lead Romania into the EU – are the outgoing Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and the mayor of Bucharest, Traian Basescu. Both are known to be advocates of Romania’s EU membership. Nastase, the head of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), is running on a joint ticket between the PSD and the Humanist Party (PUR). According to a public opinion poll conducted by CURS and released on 22 November, the PSD-PUR coalition enjoys the support of 41% of the voters. Nastase himself would be the choice for president of 42% of the respondents. However, another poll, by CSOP (24 November) puts Nastase 0.3% behind his main contender. The PSD’s candidate for the post of prime minister is Mircea Geoana, the country’s current foreign minister. Basescu, the president of the centrist Democratic Party (PD), is the presidential candidate of the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), which comprises the PD and the National Liberal Party (PNL). The same CURS poll showed 34% support for the DA alliance and 32% for Basescu himself. The DA alliance would nominate businessman and former minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu to the post of premier. There are a total of twelve candidates vying for the five-year presidential mandate, half of whom are barely known to the public at large. The better-known candidates include Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of the country’s nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM) and Béla Markó, the head of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). Tudor may receive between 9% and 15% of the vote, while Markó is projected to win around 4%. Read more with Euractiv FYROM elects new premier Forty-two year old Vlado Buckovski has been elected the new prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. PositionsIn a joint project, the Romanian weekly Dilema Veche and EURACTIV.ro has compiled the first independent evaluation of the two main parties' political platforms. Under the project, experts were asked to grade the parties' political offers in the categories of taxation, pensions, fight against corruption, health care, education, environmental protection and agriculture. On a scale of 1 to 10, Nastase's PSD-PUR union obtained an average of 5.48 points, while Basescu's PNL-PD received 6.06 points. The president of the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) - an NGO - , Alina Mungiu Pippidi, told EURACTIV.ro that in Romania it is quite common and accepted that "people are not saying who they are going to vote for anymore. This affects the voting option. The PSD is overrated. At least 20% of those saying that they will vote for the PSD will not vote for the PSD". According to a poll which SAR commissioned from Gallup in the autumn of 2004, the public's discontent towards the current government was very high. The majority of the respondents (50%) said that the government was not able to handle the situation in the country, and felt that the time was ripe for a political change (72%). Furthermore, the poll revealed that this change of power should happen after the elections (48%), and that there was a political alternative to the current government (47% compared to 32% saying that there wasn't one). In a recent analysis, SAR also said that although Nastase's Social Democrats support the country joining the EU, victory for them could be fraught with the risk of the country returning to "destabilising perestroika-type reforms which the Iliescu regime promoted from 1992 to 1996". In such a scenario, "Romania would remain a 'black hole' in the middle of an enlarged Europe, a country riddled with corruption," the SAR analysis said. CURS director Sebastian Lazaroiu has told the press that "the percentage [shown in the poll results] is not a prediction for the general elections results", as they also depend on "the way the undecided will vote, on vote participation and on the impact of the TV debates in the last 10 days of campaign". The undecided are known to represent about 30% of the voters. The CURS poll was commissioned by the Antena 1 TV station, which is run by the family of Dan Voiculescu, who is a candidate for the senate on behalf of PSD-PUR. Therefore, the poll's findings are questioned by some analysts. BackgroundRomanians are scheduled to vote in the first round of presidential elections on 28 November to elect a head of state who would succeed 74-year-old Ion Iliescu. Iliescu has been a key political figure of the country since the change of the political system in 1989. Having served two terms, the law does not allow him to run for a third. To win the first election round, a candidate would have to win over 50% of the vote. This, according to analysts, is an unlikely scenario, especially since the race appears to be too close to call. The run-off round of the elections is scheduled for 12 December. On 28 November, the country will also vote in legislative elections. Fifty-seven political parties and national minorities' organisations are competing. Analysts expect voter turnout to reach 64%, notwithstanding the fact that a number of Romanians working abroad will not be able to cast their ballots in the absence of an appropriate number of voting centres worldwide, especially in the US and the EU countries. Further ReadingPress Dossiers PressReview:Election coverage(auf Englisch) Politic.ro:Election coverage(auf Rumänisch) Evenimentul Zilei:Election coverage(auf Rumänisch) Ziua:Election coverage(auf Rumänisch) Revista Presei:Election coverage(auf Rumänisch) Non-assigned links EURACTIV Romania - Dilema Veche:The first independent evaluation of the political platforms(in Romanian) EURACTIV Romania - Dilema Veche:Marks for political platforms(in Romanian)
