Slim lead for incumbent Basescu in Romanian polls

Two leading presidential candidates now headed for December 6 runoff

Electoral posters for Romania’s incumbent President Traian Basescu (right) and Mircea Geoana, head of Romania’s Social Democratic Party, are seen in Bucharest yesterday. Basescu led by a slim margin in the first round of Romania’s presidential election on yesterday’s count.

By Radu Marinas - Reuters

BUCHAREST - President Traian Basescu led by a slim margin in the first round of Romania's presidential election yesterday, but the close results pointed to tough talks ahead on forming a new government. Failure to form a new government rapidly could further endanger a 20-billion-euro aid package led by the International Monetary Fund and hamper efforts to move the country quickly out of recession.

Partial results from 74 percent of polling stations showed centrist Basescu had 33 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's ballot. Social Democrat (PSD) leader Mircea Geoana 30 percent.

If Basescu wins the second round on December 6, he will be able to choose a new prime minister to put an end to a government crisis that has delayed IMF aid and put off investors.

However, commentators say Basescu's confrontational style has made him enemies among other political groups, raising questions about his ability to form a stable coalition.

His Democrat-Liberal Party cannot rule alone.

Confirming these concerns, Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu, who was third in the polls with 20 percent, said his grouping would not negotiate a deal with Basescu's party.

«I repeat, I rule out any collaboration,» he told reporters.

At stake is Romania's ability to modernize after years of shoddy reforms in the two decades since the collapse of communism which have left it poorer and more corruption-prone than most of its former Soviet bloc peers in the European Union.

Sunday's election had been an obstacle to political stability, with Basescu's centrists and Geoana's leftists unwilling to work together to end an impasse that began when the two parties' coalition collapsed in October.

Under Romanian law, a president has little effect on day-to-day policy decisions but controls the formation of the government by appointing a prime minister.

Geoana still stands a chance of victory in the second round, which some commentators say could mean a less vigorous push for reforms but more success in implementing them.

Basescu and Geoana have both vowed to move quickly to mend relations with the Washington-based IMF, but the latter also opposes vast public sector layoffs, a vital part of conditions set by the Fund in return for aid.

Geoana's election would bring back to power old-guard politicians from the PSD, a party with deep roots in Romania's communist era. Its rule during the early post-communist years was marred by slow economic transformation and sleaze scandals.

«Geoana would have an easier task to get a government in place... and Romania, having the problems they have, they need a quick government to be approved by parliament,» said Daniel Hewitt of Barclays Capital in London. «But the problem is that it's not so clear what a Geoana government could do.»

Broad reforms are vital. Twenty years after the execution of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the Balkan country of 22 million people is one of the poorest and most graft-prone corners of the European Union.

BUCHAREST (AFP) - European security watchdog OSCE said yesterday its monitors found Romania's presidential election was largely up to international standards.

But the body also noted shortcomings in its preliminary report, such as the introduction of last-minute changes to the election law and issues with casting ballots at some polling stations.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) further said Romania's Interior Ministry received more than 1,000 complaints of problems related to Sunday's vote and had identified 72 illegal incidents, concerned mainly with «multiple voting and vote buying.» «Although this election was generally conducted in conformity with international standards, the remaining problems need to be addressed swiftly,» said head of the OSCE mission Vadim Zhdanovich.

The problems at polling stations centered on special sites that were set up in train stations, hospitals or universities for voters casting ballots outside the areas where they were registered to vote.