BUCHAREST (Romania), November 22 (SeeNews) – Romanians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president who will have to break a political impasse that has delayed the disbursement of the latest tranches of a bailout loan package.
With incumbent Traian Basescu and 11 other candidates each lacking enough support to win in the first round a run-off vote is highly likely, pollsters said.
Basescu, banned by law to call early general elections in the last six months of his term after the minority government fell in a no-confidence vote in October, failed to win parliament approval for his nominations for a new prime-minister. The ensuing political instability blocked Romania's ability to enact spending cuts, making the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission postpone the payment of the next installments of loan aid designed to support the country's crisis-hit economy.
Voting started at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT). Polling stations will close 14 hours later. There are 18.3 million eligible voters in the country of 21.5 million people.
A candidate must win more than 50% of the valid votes in the first round for an outright victory. If none of the contenders does so, a run-off vote will be held between the two front-runners on December 6.
Most likely Basescu will face Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana in the run-off, pollsters said.
Romania's president must abandon any political affiliation upon taking the oath of office and has fewer executive functions than the prime minister. The president is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, appoints the ambassadors and the heads of security agencies.
On Sunday Romanians will also vote in a referendum on Basescu's proposal to transform the bicameral parliament into a single chamber and cut the number of legislators to 300 from current 471.