The campaign for the presidential elections is under way

There are 14 candidates to the presidential seat.

Leyla Cheamil, 28.10.2019, 13:55

It is less than two weeks until the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, due on November 10, and the election campaign, that has been uneventful so far, ends on November 9, at 5 pm. As many as 14 candidates, representing all parliamentary parties as well as independents, are part of the race. A head of state since 2014, Klaus Iohannis is running for a second term, supported by the National Liberal Party (PNL), whose leader, Ludovic Orban, is prime minister designate. PNL, the most important party in the opposition, initiated the dismissal, through censure motion, of the Social Democratic Government headed by Viorica Dancila. Dancila is also running for the presidential seat.

The representative of the USR-PLUS Alliance, Dan Barna and the former MEP, Mircea Diaconu, supported by Pro Romania and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) are also part of the race. ALDE is headed by Calin Popescu Tariceanu, whose decision to leave the Government has triggered PM Dancila’s dismissal. A professor, essayist and diplomat, Toader Paleologu enjoys the support of the People’s Movement Party (PMP), representing the conservative right, while the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) supports its leader, Kelemen Hunor.

Candidates Catalin Ivan, Ninel Peia, Sebastian Constantin Popescu, John-Ion Banu, Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels and Viorel Catarama represent non-parliamentary parties while Bogdan Stanoevici and Alexandru Cumpanasu are independent candidates. If none of them gets absolute majority in the first round, the Constitutional Court must announce, until November 15, the names of the two candidates to take part in the second round, held on November 24. Romanians abroad will vote between November 8 and 10 in the first round and between November 22 and 24 in the second one. Voting can be extended until midnight if not all voters manage to cast their ballot by 9 pm.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has made public an interactive map with the 835 polling stations abroad, most of which are in Spain, Italy, Germany, Britain and France but also in the US, Moldova, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Switzerland. (Translated by Elena Enache)