Romanian Leftist Social Democrats Take Lead in Parliamentary Vote

TOP STORIES

Romanian leftist Social Democrats take lead in parliamentary vote

SWISSINFO.CH | 3 MONTHS AGO | 2 MINUTES, 32 SECONDS READ

This content was published on December 7, 2020 - 11:40 By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's opposition Social Democrats (PSD) have taken the lead in Sunday's national election, seen as pivotal for the country's future in the European mainstream, according to partial results on Monday, but are unlikely to form the next government.

The PSD, which rode a wave of voter discontent over the coronavirus pandemic and the minority Liberal government's pledges of fiscal restraint, will struggle to form a functioning majority against incumbent Prime Minister Ludovic Orban.

President Klaus Iohannis, an ally of the Liberals who gets to nominate the prime minister, has said repeatedly that he will task Orban with forming a centre-right coalition government to rein in a ballooning budget deficit and restore the European Union state's credibility among foreign investors.

Under Romanian law, the president is not obligated to pick a prime minister from the winning party if it did not secure an outright majority.

Orban himself claimed victory on Sunday evening after exit polls showed the outcome was too close to call, saying he was confident he could build a centre-right coalition government.

Partial results showed that the PSD had won just under 30% of votes for both houses of parliament, while the Liberals got 25-26%. The centrist alliance USR-Plus, a likely coalition partner for the Liberals, won 15-16% of votes.

Parliamentary seat redistributions will change the final percentages and favour the largest parties, but analysts said the Liberals and USR-Plus would probably need to co-opt at least one other grouping to gain a majority, raising the prospect of difficult negotiations over key portfolios and policies.

"It is a weak result for the Liberal Party," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a professor of political science at Babes-Bolyai University. "The more parties it needs to form a coalition, the more complicated the compromises it will have to make."

FEWER PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT

The next parliament looks set to have only five or six parties, including the ethnic Hungarian UDMR and the newcomer Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), an ultra-nationalist group formed a year ago which won 9% of votes.

The populist PMP, founded by former president Traian Basescu, was waiting to see whether it had crossed the 5% threshold for entering parliament.

Leaders of the Liberals, USR-Plus and UDMR said on Sunday they favoured a centre-right coalition government, as did PMP. Most clearly ruled out negotiations with the Social Democrats.

The EU would welcome a government led by Orban, after years of efforts by a succession of PSD Romanian cabinets to suppress the independence of the courts - a charge they denied - that mirrored overhauls of the judiciary in Poland and Hungary.

Orban also campaigned on a promise to bring Romania closer to the EU mainstream following years of fiscal populism, political instability and neglect of rundown infrastructure and public services.

Turnout was the lowest since the 1989 fall of communism, with only one in three Romanians voting, with disappointment over failed reforms compounded by fears of coronavirus contagion in polling stations.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Gareth Jones)

CATEGORY: HOT TAGS: POLITICO EXIT POLL LADY LOUISE WINDSOR ROMANIA ELECTIONS WORLD NEWS EXIT POLLS 2020 ELECTION GARETH BALE TRAIAN BĂSESCU EXIT POLLS ITALY

EXTERNAL RELATED NEWS

NEWS IN HOT CATEGORY UAE records 1871 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

GULF TODAY • 24 MINUTES AGO Picture used for illustrative purpose. FileGulf Today, Staff ReporterThe Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) reported 1,871 new coronavirus cases in the UAE on Monday. Also, 2,144 individuals recovered and seven people passed away, the Ministry added. Using state-of-the-art medical testing equipment, the Ministry conducted 185,531 additional COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours. The UAE has recorded 442,226 positive cases since the outbreak, 424,840 have recovered and 1,445 passed away.

Category: Hot Tags: The Undertaker

IPO Mania Fizzles in Hong Kong as Mega First-Day Pops Fade

REPORT DOOR • 37 MINUTES AGO (Bloomberg) — The days of the massive first-day pop in Hong Kong’s initial public offering frenzy may be nearing an end. With the bulk of new share sales posting large gains on their first-day of trading, investor euphoria was justified. Story continuesThe secondary listing wave of U.S.-listed Chinese companies hasn’t always had glowing debuts in Hong Kong. Autohome Inc., a Chinese online car-sales website with its primary listing in New York, ended its Hong Kong debut on Monday with a modest 2% rise. Chinese search engine Baidu rose as much as 2% in gray market trading before its Tuesday debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Category: Hot Tags: Hong Kong New York Oliver Cox

Indian border state pushes Prime Minister Modi to do more in Myanmar

REUTERS • 1 HOUR AGO NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian border state, into which more than 1,000 people from Myanmar have sought refuge, is pushing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to engage with representatives of the southeast Asian country’s ousted elected government. But the chief minister of the northeastern state of Mizoram said on Sunday that he had held talks with a member of a committee of ousted lawmakers in Myanmar, which is attempting to reestablish the civilian government. Many of the people who have sought shelter in the remote Indian state since late February are defecting policemen and their families. “We have to help them in the time of need,” Mizoram lawmaker K. Vanlalvena, who attended the meetings, said in an interview. At least 250 people have been killed and thousands detained in Myanmar since Feb. 1, with security forces attempting to stamp out widespread pro-democracy protests.

Category: Politics Tags: Narendra Modi Zoramthanga Germany looks set to extend virus lockdown measures again

ABC NEWS • 1 HOUR AGO Most lockdown restrictions are currently set to run through March 28. The weekly infection rate per 100,000 people stood at 107 nationwide on Monday, up from the mid-60s three weeks ago. Restaurants, bars and many leisure facilities in Germany have been shut since early November, and hotels closed for tourists. On Friday, Merkel and the state governors agreed to gradually bring on board ordinary doctors' practices just after Easter. By Sunday, 9% of the population had received at least a first vaccine dose and 4% had received both doses.

Category: Hot Tags: Berlin Angela Merkel North Rhine-Westphalia

Paddleboarder knocked into water by shark at WA beach in 'terrifying' run-in

7NEWS.COM.AU • 1 HOUR AGO A stand-up paddleboarder is lucky to be alive after a “terrifying” run-in with a shark over the weekend. Gary May was 300m from shore at Yallingup Beach south of Perth when a shark bit his board and knocked him into the water on Saturday afternoon. May said the shark “backed off pretty quick” before he scrambled back onto his board and started furiously paddling himself to safety. Gary May was knocked off his paddle board by a shark on Saturday afternoon. Credit: 7NEWS“I’d lost my paddle and paddling one of those without a paddle is pretty hard,” he explained.

Category: Hot Tags: Gary S. May

INFORMATION BOX

Gareth BaleGareth Frank Bale is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, on loan from Real Madrid of La Liga, and the Wales national team. [Wikipedia]

ItalyItaly, officially the Italian Republic, is a country consisting of a continental part, delimited by the Alps, a peninsula and several islands surrounding it. Italy is located in Southern Europe, and is also considered part of Western Europe. [Wikipedia]

Klaus IohannisKlaus Werner Iohannis is the president of Romania. He became leader of the National Liberal Party in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania from 2002 to 2013. [Wikipedia]

BudapestBudapest is the capital and the most populous city of Hungary, and the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits. The city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about 525 square kilometres. [Wikipedia]

EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. About 29% of Earth's surface is land consisting of continents and islands. [Wikipedia]

Lady Louise WindsorLady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder child and only daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. [Wikipedia]

Mallu MagalhãesMaria Luiza de Arruda Botelho Pereira de Magalhães is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and musician. Mallu first came to prominence through her MySpace page, becoming known for her own songs and those of renowned artists. [Wikipedia]

HungaryHungary is a country in Central Europe. Spanning 93,030 square kilometres in the Carpathian Basin, it borders Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to the west. [Wikipedia]

Carol VordermanCarol Jean Vorderman, MBE is a British media personality, best known for co-hosting the game show Countdown for 26 years from 1982 until 2008, as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet books, and hosting the annual Pride of Britain awards. [Wikipedia]