BUCHAREST (Askume) – Former NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Ziona has taken a slight lead over leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in the first round of Romania’s presidential election, a poll shows, with votes split between the candidates.
Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, will hold presidential elections in two rounds on November 24 and December 8, with parliamentary elections in between. Since the president’s powers include overseeing foreign policy, the new president will play a key role in Romania’s commitment to support Ukraine.
So far, 11 candidates have announced plans to run for president and replace outgoing Klaus Iohannis, whose second and final term ends in December.
While the role is largely ceremonial, the president’s powers also include nominating a prime minister after an election, appointing judges and prosecutors, and referring bills back to parliament for review.
The survey conducted by pollster INSCOP Research showed that Geoana, 66, received 21.4% of the vote in the first round, while Ciolacu, 56, got 20.3%.
Elena Lasconi, the two-time mayor of Camplon in Argeş County in central Romania and leader of the centre-right opposition party Save Romania (USR), came in third with 14.2%.
Nicolae Ciuca, leader of the ruling coalition’s Liberal Party, would finish sixth, behind two ultra-nationalist candidates. The survey was conducted among 1,102 people between September 11 and 16 and has a margin of error of 3.0 percentage points.
“The competition in the first stage will be more intense than in previous presidential elections,” said Remus Stefurec, director of INSCOP’s research department. He added that too many candidates would lead to division of votes and Romanian democracy would face a new situation – candidates with less than 25% of the vote would advance to the second stage.
Previous polls showed Ciolacu, leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), in first place. No Social Democratic leader has become president of Romania since 2004.
Ziona is a former leader of the Social Democratic Party who lost the presidential election in 2009 and is now contesting as an independent candidate.
