Electoral Behaviour at the 2009 and 2014 Presidential Elections in Harghita, Covasna and Mureş Counties
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Analele Universităţii din Oradea, Seria Geografie Year XXV, no. 1/2015 (June), pp. 88-104 ISSN 1221-1273, E-ISSN 2065-3409 Article no. 251110-675 ELECTORAL BEHAVIOUR AT THE 2009 AND 2014 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN HARGHITA, COVASNA AND MUREŞ COUNTIES George-Bogdan TOFAN „Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Informatics, Departament of Biology, Ecology and Geography, Baia Mare Branch, 5 Culturii Street, Romania, e-mail: [email protected] Adrian-Florin NIŢĂ „Babeş-Bolyai” University, Faculty of Geography, Gheorgheni Branch, Romania, e-mail: [email protected] Bogdan-Nicolae PĂCURAR Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism, Faculty of Geography, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca; Cluj County Council, Urbanism and Territorial Planning Department, Cluj-Napoca, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This study represents a synthesis of the electoral behaviour exhibited by the population of Harghita, Covasna and Mureş counties, at the 2009 presidential elections, held on 22nd November (first tour) and 6th December (second tour), and at the presidential elections of 2014 (first tour, 2nd November, and second tour, 16th November). In terms of candidates, the following occured: in 2009, first tour, with 12 candidates, from which only Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană proceeded to the second round, and 14 candidates in the first round of the 2014 elections (10 of them from political parties and alliances). The second round was defined by the first two candidates with the highest number of votes, which were Victor-Viorel Ponta and Klaus-Werner Iohannis. Key words: the President of Romania, polling stations, void votes, turnout. * * * * * * INTRODUCTION Research on electoral geography and especially on the geography of presidential elections emerged in the 1990s, the first studies being conducted by Pop, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2010; Ilieş, 1998; Creţan, 1999, 2006; Bodocan, 2001; Boamfă, 2011; Iaţu, 2013 and Giugăl, 2013, which proposed several research models in this new field, located between science and politics, an interesting, dynamic, and almost inexhaustible area of study. The first author of the endeavour (G. B. Tofan) is at his third study regarding the electoral behaviour of the inhabitants of Harghita, Covasna and Mureş counties (Tofan, 2013; Tofan & Timariu, 2013). The results of the presidential elections will come to light after the analysis, synthesis and intepretation of the statistical data provided by the Central Electoral Bureau of Corresponding Author http://istgeorelint.uoradea.ro/Reviste/Anale/anale.htm Electoral Behaviour at the 2009 and 2014 Presidential Elections in Harghita… 89 Romania and by the Permanent Electoral Authority. The three analysed counties, each one an electoral district (no. 15-Covasna; no. 21- Harghita and no. 28-Mureş), encompass 10 cities, 15 towns and 189 communes. THE ELECTORAL BEHAVIOUR AT THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS At the presidential elections of 2009, there were two electoral rounds, as follows: -for the first round (22nd November 2009), 12 representatives from a large political spectre formally applied for the mandate of President of Romania: Constantin-Ninel Potîrcă, Independent Candidate, George-Crin-Laurențiu Antonescu, National Liberal Party, George Becali, New Generation Party - Christian Democratic, Kelemen Hunor, Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, Corneliu Vadim-Tudor, Greater Romania Party, Mircea-Dan Geoană, Social Democratic Party-Conservative Party, Traian Băsescu, Liberal Democratic Party, Ovidiu-Cristian Iane, Romanian Ecologist Party, Sorin-Mircea Oprescu, Independent Candidate, Remus-Florinel Cernea, Green Party, Constantin Rotaru, Socialist Alternative Party and Gheorghe-Eduard Manole, Independent Candidate. The total number of votes in the three counties mentioned above was 429 154. Most votes were attributed to the following candidates: Kelemen Hunor, 43.63% (187 277 votes), who won in the counties with a Hungarian majority, that is Harghita (71.24%, 83 199 votes) and Covasna (52.79%, 40 386 votes), followed by Băsescu Traian, 22.06% (94 713 votes), who obtained the highest number of votes in Mureș County (64 752 votes, 27.45%,), Geoană Mircea-Dan, 13.48% (57 873 votes), third place in Harghita and Mureș counties, and fourth place in Covasna County, Antonescu George-Crin-Laurențiu, 12.06% (51 796 votes), third place in Covasna County, and fourth in Harghita and Mureș counties, and Vadim-Tudor Corneliu, 4.33% (18 620 votes), fifth place in all three counties, according to the valid votes. The following seven candidates, in terms of votes won, were: Oprescu Sorin-Mircea (1.26%, 5 442 votes), Becali George (1.26%, 5 422 votes), Cernea Florinel Remus (0.63%, 2 706 votes), Rotaru Constantin (0.45%, 1 933 votes), Potîrcă Constantin-Ninel (0.38%, 1 639 votes), Manole Gheorghe-Eduard (0.20%, 864 votes) and Iane Ovidiu-Cristian (0.18%, 809 votes). The candidate of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor, won the highest number of votes in 139 polling stations (65.42%, from a total of 214 localities), most being situated in Harghita County (60), with percentages of over 90% in settlements like Căpâlnița, Cârța, Ciceu, Ciucsângeorgiu, Dănești, Lunca de Jos, Mădăraş, Sândominic, Sânmartin, Sântimbru and Tomești, followed by Mureș County (42), with percentages of over 80% in Acățari, Bereni, Chibed, Hodoșa, Neaua și Păsăreni, and then in Covasna (37), with percentages exceeding 70% in Arcuș, Bixad, Bodoc, Brateș, Catalina, Cernat, Comandău, Dalnic, Estelnic, Ghelința, Lemnia, Mereni, Micfalău, Moacșa, Poian, Reci, Sânzieni, Turia and Vârghiș. Traian Băsescu, the Liberal Democratic Party's representative, came second in Harghita (12.70%, 14 836 votes) and Covasna counties (19.77%, 15 125 votes), but defeated Kelemen Hunor in Mureș County, with a total score of 27.45%. At station level (cities, towns and communes), Băsescu Traian won the most votes in 48 stations (22.42% of a total of 214 localities), 38 in Mureș County, with more than 40% in Sighișoara, Luduș, Băgaciu, Batoș, Chețani, Cozma and Daneș (the last registering the highest percentage, 58.60%), Hodac, Miheșu de Câmpie, Nadeș, Pogăceaua, Răstolița, Râciu, Șăulia, Viișoara and Zagăr, then in six polling stations located in Harghita, with more than 35% (Sărmaș, Corbu, Subcetate, Gălăuțaș, Toplița), but only 29.55% in Tulgheș, while in the County of Covasna, Traian Băsescu won the highest number of votes in four polling stations in Belin (46.05%), Vâlcele (41.50%), Dobârlău (40.90%) and Hăghig (37.52%). Mircea-Dan Geoană, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party-Conservative Party alliance, won 13.48% of the total number of votes (57 873), his best position (third place) being in Mureș County (18.51%, 43 676 votes) and Harghita (5.69%, 6 647 votes), while in the County of Covasna (9.86%, 7 550 votes) he only managed to attain the fourth place. 90 George-Bogdan TOFAN, Adrian NIŢĂ, Bogdan-Nicolae PĂCURAR Figure 1. The distribution of votes per main candidates during the first round of the 2009 presidential elections, Harghita County (Data source: Central Election Bureau of Romania, author: G. B. Tofan) At city and commune level, Mircea-Dan Geoană managed to obtain the highest scores in 19 stations (9.34%), 14 being located in Mureș County (Tăureni, 65.89%, Grebenișu de Câmpie, 50.33%, Fărăgău, 58.11%, Ideciu de Jos, 45.26%, Iclănzel, 44.48%, Ibănești, 40.67%, Apold, 40.65%, Sânpetru de Câmpie, 40.07%, Solovăstru, 39.63%, Lunca, 38.58%, Rușii Munți, 37.21%, Beica de Jos, 36.00%, Sânger, 29.94% and Suseni, 29.74%), four in Covasna (Valea Mare, 49.40%, Barcani, 47.87%, Întorsura Buzăului, 34.17% and Sita Buzăului, 34.15%), while in Harghita, he won most votes only in Bilbor (45.11%), a commune with a Romanian majority. Electoral Behaviour at the 2009 and 2014 Presidential Elections in Harghita… 91 Figure 2. The distribution of votes per main candidates during the first round of the 2009 presidential elections, Covasna County (Data source: Central Election Bureau of Romania, author: G. B. Tofan) The fourth candidate, if we take into consideration the number of votes won, was George- Crin-Laurențiu Antonescu, with a percentage of 12.06% (51 796) of the people's votes, his best position (third place) being in Covasna (9.89%, 7 573 votes), but only fourth place in Mureș (16.05%, 37 867 votes) and Harghita (5.44%, 6 356 votes) counties. At regional level, he won in eight stations, all in Mureș County (Crăiești, 47.60%, Zau de Câmpie, 42.26%, Ungheni, 35.69%, Band, 35.33%, Cucerdea, 32.45%, Gurghiu, 28.67%, Sărmașu, 36.87% and Ogra, 27.14%. As an absolute majority was not obtained by neither candidates, a second round of elections was organised (on 6th December 2009). The remaining candidates were the incumbent president, Traian Băsescu (32.44%, 3 153 640 votes at national level) and his main opponent, the representative of the Social Democratic Party - Conservative Party political alliance, Mircea-Dan Geoană (31.15%, 3 027 838 votes). 92 George-Bogdan TOFAN, Adrian NIŢĂ, Bogdan-Nicolae PĂCURAR Figure 3. The distribution of votes per main candidates during the first round of the 2009 presidential elections, Mureş County (Data source: Central Election Bureau of Romania, author: G. B. Tofan) In all three counties, there were 406 349 votes, out of which 68 437 in Covasna, 96 193 in Harghita and 241 719 in Mureș. During the second round, most votes were favourable to Traian Băsescu - 53.88% (out of a total of 218 964 votes, 123 764 were from Mureș, 54 283 from Harghita and 40 917 from Covasna), well above the national percentage (50.33%, 5 277 068 votes for Traian Băsescu), while Mircea-Dan Geoană had 46.12% (187 385 votes, with 117 955 in Mureș, 41 910 in Harghita and 27 520 in Covasna), below the national average (49.66%, 5 206 747 votes). Electoral Behaviour at the 2009 and 2014 Presidential Elections in Harghita… 93 Figure 4.