Romania’s pro-EU president expected to win run-off vote

BUCHAREST: Romanians voted on Sunday in the second round of presidential elections that are expected to return incumbent Klaus Iohannis to office, confirming the pro-European trajectory of the eastern EU member state.

Thirty years after the fall of communism, the centre-right former physics professor is running against Social Democrats (PSD) leader and former prime minister Viorica Dancila, whose government collapsed last month in a no-confidence vote.

"It’s a choice for the wellbeing of Romania. We’re waiting for a revolution, for things to get better. But we are waiting for this, and nothing comes our way," Stan Mihai, a 76-year-old pensioner who voted in the capital Bucharest, told AFP.

In the first round of voting on November 10, Iohannis won 38 percent of the vote, ahead of 13 other candidates. Dancila came second with 22 percent. Analysts say voters who backed lower-placed candidates can be expected to largely swing behind Iohannis, amid deep resentment toward the PSD over controversial judicial reforms.

"I voted for a Romania that is modern, European and normal," Iohannis told reporters after casting his ballot on Sunday. A total of 18.2 million Romanians are eligible to vote with a record 650,000 of them abroad.

Those abroad tend to favour liberal candidates. In the first round, just three percent of them voted Dancila. The PSD government had engaged in a long battle with the European Union -- and Iohannis who backed Brussels -- over allegations it was trying to push through measures to neuter the judiciary and benefit PSD politicians.

The left-wing party, which is seen as the successor of the ruling elite before the overthrow of communism in 1989 and has dominated politics since, has been accused of widespread corruption.

And while nationalism has been less present in Romanian politics than elsewhere in the region -- such as in Hungary or Poland -- the PSD tried to frame its clashes with EU institutions as evidence that it was standing up for Romania.

"I voted for a presidential mandate where we see more involvement and respect for the Romanian people and for our national interests," Dancila told reporters after voting. After the PSD-led administration’s fall, Iohannis tasked ally Ludovic Orban with forming a new government to be in place until legislative elections due late next year.

Iohannis made the rule of law a central plank of his campaign for a second five-year term, promising to help build functioning institutions without corruption.

Former foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu said Iohannis -- who hails from the German minority and whose 2014 victory over a PSD candidate was a surprise -- represents the "only European and Euro-Atlantic option".

Under the constitution, Romania’s president is responsible for foreign affairs as well as approving the appointment of judges and top prosecutors. Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have protested against the judicial reforms proposed by the PSD, seen as giving politicians a way to avoid corruption sentences.

Sociologist Alin Teodorescu has estimated that introducing the reforms has cost the PSD more than a million votes. The PSD, which has become increasingly reliant on an ageing, rural electorate, has accused Iohannis of being a "dictator".

Criticised for refusing any face-to-face debate during the campaign, Iohannis, in turn, called his rival the "incarnation of a toxic regime".

Dancila, 55, an engineer by training, has highlighted the strong economic growth recorded during the PSD’s time in office, including increases in pensions and salaries in the public sector.

But this largesse has sparked concerns by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has warned about the country’s rising fiscal deficit. Analysts say Dancila’s survival as the head of PSD is at stake in the vote.

Her 22 percent of the vote in the first round was half of what PSD managed in the 2016 elections and follows a rocky ride for the party this year. In May, its powerful then leader Liviu Dragnea was jailed on corruption charges, and the party also saw its support plunge during European elections.

A striking fifth of the country’s population has emigrated in search for better-paying jobs. "I voted thinking about my children who emigrated to the US. I hope they will come back and find a job here," a 70-year old pensioner, who only gave her name as Elena, told AFP in Bucharest. Polling stations, which opened at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT), will close at 21:00 local time, shortly after which initial results will be released.