Who runs for Romania’s presidential seat?

According to a survey conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS, the PSD and PNL nominees would go into the second round of the presidential voting if election were held next Sunday

Roxana Vasile, 26.08.2024, 14:00

The nominees of the Social-Democratic Party and of the National Liberal Party for the position of Romania’s president, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca respectively, might run into the second round of voting due in December this year, says a survey conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS, over August 6 and 22.

Ranking first among the electorate’s preferences is the PSD nominee with 32% followed by PNL with 19%. They are followed by the incumbent NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, who runs as an independent with 15% and George Simion, the nationalist leader of the AUR political group, who would muster 14% of the votes.

The two ladies who have made public their intention to run for the presidential seat, Elena Lasconi from the United Right Alliance could get 11% while the controversial Diana Şoşoacă from the SOS Romania party only 5% of the voting intentions.

We recall that the first round of the presidential election in Romania is to take place on November 24 and the second on December 8. They will take place in the same period as those for the country’s Parliament, due to take place on December 1, Romania’s national day.

The election campaign for the Parliament seats will be unfolding over November 1 and 30. In Romania voters will be able to cast their ballots on December the 1 between 7 and 21 hours whereas in the Diaspora voting will kick off on 30 November at 7 hours local time and end on 1 December, at 21 hours.

Until then, according to the same CURS survey, the first two parties preferred by the voters would muster more votes than their nominees; PSD would get 34%, while PNL 24%. AUR would take 14% and the United Right Alliance 12%. SOS Romania will have 5% and so will UDMR.

If the situation doesn’t change, the Romanians could be governed by the same two parties, which are making up the incumbent ruling coalition, the Social-Democrats and the Liberals, which are presently enjoying a comfortable majority in the Bucharest Parliament.

So, Romania’s political stage would be dominated by the same figures who are presently ruling the country. And if the incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu won the presidential election, he would become the first Social-Democratic president in the past 20 years.

And if Ciolacu won the race, he would take over the presidential seat from another liberal, Klaus Iohannis. So, the stake is high for both parties!

In the end we should mention that it’s for the first time in Romania’s history when the country has seen four types of elections in a year; those for the local administration and the European Parliament were already held in June.

(bill)