Next Sunday, on
\nNovember 24th, Romanians will elect their president for the next
\nfive years. The two contenders in the decisive round are the current president
\nof Romania Klaus Iohannis, supported by the ruling National Liberal Party, and
\nViorica Dancila, the head of the Social Democratic Party, now in opposition. In
\nthe first round, Iohannis got 38% of the votes, and Dancila approximately 22%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Therefore, fighting for the highest position in the state are the main figures
\nof the left and right wings in Romania. There will be no direct electoral confrontation
\nbetween them, as Klaus Iohannis has repeatedly stated he cannot have a debate
\nwith the representative of a party which he considers undemocratic, a party
\nthat, for three years, tried to subjugate justice and acted against the
\nRomanian citizens. A direct debate would render the Social Democratic candidate
\nlegitimate, and Iohannis says Ms. Dancila does not deserve it. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In turn, the
\nformer Prime Minister of Romania, Viorica Dancila, says that Iohannis has an
\nextremist discourse, based on hate. It’s the approach of a man who wants to
\ndivide Romanian society, and Romania needs a mediator president, a president
\nthat would restore balance, Viorica Dancila has stated. She has also said she
\nis not at war with anybody, unlike her opponent.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The two
\ncontenders are supported by the biggest political parties in the country. As
\nregards the voters, Klaus Iohannis counts on middle-aged employed citizens,
\nwith an average education, while Ms. Dancila is favoured by pensioners, with
\nelementary or average education. They both count on their own electorate, and
\nalso hope to attract those who, in the first round, voted for other candidates.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the first
\nround, the turnover at national level stood at only 48%, the lowest rate ever
\nrecorded at a presidential election. On the other hand, encouraged by the new
\nregulations regarding the voting procedure, Romanians in the Diaspora voted in
\nlarge numbers, reaching a record 650,000. Adding to them were some 25,000
\nvoters who chose postal voting, a first in Romania. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the first round,
\nthe Romanians living abroad had three days to cast their vote, from Friday
\nuntil Sunday. The same will happen at the second round. This measure was taken
\nin order to prevent what happened at the 2014 presidential elections and also
\nat the elections for the European Parliament this May, when people queued for
\nhours and many of them didn’t even manage to cast their vote. Also, the number
\nof polling stations set up abroad was doubled, reaching 835. Most of them will
\nbe organized in Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and France. In Romania,
\npeople will be able to vote on just one day, Sunday, November 24th. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last week of the campaign for the decisive round of the presidential elections has just started<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":82768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-83712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n