Romania’s presidential election is all about who comes second.
As no candidate is likely to get an outright majority in the Nov. 24 first round, the focus is on who gets into the runoff.
Premier Marcel Ciolacu who is backed by Romania’s biggest party, the Social Democratic Party is expected to come first, polls show.
The question has been who will he meet in the Dec. 8 runoff. He is said to want to compete against nationalist George Simion, so he can campaign on his superior ‘European credentials’.But things don’t appear to be going as smoothly as he hoped according to the latest opinion polls.
Liberal chairman Nicolae Ciucă is expected to come second in the first round, a poll published on Monday showed. That is a less than ideal prospect for Ciolacu as his so-called European credentials are weaker than Ciuca’s who was Army Chief of Staff, served in the military in Afghanistan, is known for his pro-NATO stance and was also prime minister.
But polls can be wrong and the race is close. Nationalist leader George Simion is just two percentage points behind Ciucă, according to a poll, conducted by The Center for International Research and Analyses (CIRA) on behalf of Evenimentul Zilei.
According to the poll, Mr. Ciolacu would win 29% of the votes, followed by Senate speaker Ciucă, with 19%.
AUR leader Simion is in third position, with 17 %t and Elena Lasconi, running for the Save Romania Union is in fourth place, with 16% of voting intentions.
Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana, with 9 percent, followed by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Cristian Diaconescu, with 5 percent.
Some 70% of respondents said they intended to vote in the election. The survey was conducted between November 1-6, 2024, on a sample of 1,150 subjects, using the face-to-face method.The margin of error was +/-3%, pollsters said.
A CURS poll published on Nov. 7, placed Ciolacu in first place with 28%, followed by Ciucă and Simion, both with 17%. Elena Lasconi trailed with 11% and Mircea Geoana was on only 9%.
