Close race expected in Romanian elections

Nastase and his leftist party face challenge from the center

A Romanian casts his ballot at a polling station in a village near Bucharest on Sunday.

By Alexandru Alexe - The Associated Press

BUCHAREST - Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and his left-wing party faced a tough challenge from the centrist opposition in presidential and parliamentary elections yesterday.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and were scheduled to close at 9 p.m. local time, with official results expected by Tuesday. Nearly 18 million people were eligible to vote. About 44 percent of the electorate had cast their ballots by 5 p.m. local time.

The 54-year-old Nastase, a candidate for the presidency, heads the ruling Social Democratic Party, seen by many to be the successor to the Communist Party.

Despite being regarded as the embodiment of the country’s communist past, Nastase says he’s the best candidate to take Romania into the EU because he has led country during four years of economic growth.

“I voted today for a very simple idea; a Romania without poverty. The rest is just details,” said Nastase.

His main challenger is Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu, an inexperienced but outspoken and popular politician who rose to national fame by launching scathing attacks against the ruling party, which he accuses of fostering corruption and damaging democracy. Basescu, a former ship’s captain, promises a Western-leaning future and has vowed to take Romania into the EU “with dignity,” by implementing needed reforms to ready the country for membership.

“The Alliance will take Romania out of the hands of the mafia (that runs the country) and place it in the hands of Romanians,” said Basescu in English after voting. He said the Romanians needed to get back their freedom, which he said the ruling party had eroded by using totalitarian methods to run the country.

Ten other candidates are running for the presidency, but are not credited by polls with real chances of success.

A first-round winner is unlikely because a candidate would need to secure more than 50 percent of the vote. A runoff is expected Dec. 12.

The winner will replace President Ion Iliescu, who is stepping down after serving three terms. He will run as a Senate candidate for the ruling party.

Running third in the presidential race is nationalist leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor, a poet turned politician.

Polls give him about 13 percent of the vote, far less than Nastase and Basescu, who each have 35 to 40 percent. Tudor abandoned his usual nationalist rhetoric and ran on a virulent anti-corruption message.

He is not expected to repeat his 2000 election performance, when he came in second, but Tudor could have a potentially decisive influence in a possible runoff between Nastase and Basescu.

In the parliamentary races, 314 seats in the Deputies Chamber and 134 seats in the Senate will be allocated proportionally to parties that win more than 5 percent of the vote. The Social Democratic Party and the Justice and Truth Alliance both have under 40 percent of the vote.