Romania: The captain triumphs

In a tight race, opposition candidate Traian Basescu beats the odds
to become Romania’s new president, avoiding the dreaded “Ukrainian
scenario”, writes Razvan Amariei
in Transitions Online.

Traian Basescu is the new president of Romania. With just under
99 percent of the votes counted, official results of the 12
December election released on the afternoon of 13 December gave
Basescu 51.2 percent of the vote to 48.8 percent for Prime Minister
Adrian Nastase.

Nastase has already conceded the race, but he followed his
announcement by signaling his intention to retain his current job.
The coalition of his Social Democrats (PSD) and the Humanistic
Party (PUR) “is the winner of the parliamentary elections,” Nastase
said. “We already have a majority and I hope Basescu will take this
into account.”

That “majority” is purely nominal at this point, resulting from
an agreement following the 28 November parliamentary elections.

Basescu, joint leader of the centrist Justice and Truth (DA)
Alliance, also lost no time engaging in partisan
cut-and-thrust.

“Our priority now is to form a parliamentary majority around the
DA Alliance,” he said in his victory statement on 13 December.
Outlining his policies, he said, “We have to continue the [European
Union] accession process, but also to explain to people the costs
of this process. I guarantee you the press will be free again. The
Washington-London-Bucharest axis is very important to us, and we
will [also] promote a partnership policy towards Moldova. Romania
should treat the inhabitants of Moldova as good Romanians.”

Although the presidency is a largely ceremonial office, it comes
with the power to name a new head of government if no single party
gains a parliamentary majority.

The closely-contested race was marred by charges of
irregularities and fraud. Basescu and Nastase advanced to the
second round of voting as the top two vote winners in the first
round, held simultaneously with parliamentary voting on 28
November.

Bucharest Mayor Basescu, 53, is the leader of the Democratic
Party (PD) and joint leader of the Justice and Truth (DA) Alliance.
He has been a ship captain, state secretary, member of parliament,
and transportation minister, entering politics after the fall of
communism in 1989. 

‘Nastase had it all’

Many commentators saw Nastase’s defeat as a severe blow to his
party.

“Nastase had it all: the media, the officials, the public money,
a pretty comfortable lead. It’s a shameful failure,” the
daily Adevarul‘s editor in chief, Cristian Tudor
Popescu, told Realitatea TV. 

To read the article in full, visit the Transitions Online website.