Romania’s governing Liberal Party has fallen four points in a single month after authorities introduced unpopular restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The monthly poll was released just before parliamentary elections on Dec. 6 and showed the center-right Liberals on 28.5% while the party’s traditional rivals, the Social Democrats, had 23.6%, two percentage points more than the previous month.
The reformist Save Romania-PLUS Party had a disappointing result dropping to 18% down from 20.4%, following infighting between the two groups.
The Liberals who are still ahead of the Social Democrats despite a drop in support are likely to try and form a coalition with the reformist group after elections.
However it was their worst showing for the Liberal in the past year who have kept together a minority government since Nov. 2019. The slide shows growing fatigue and frustration with the coronavirus pandemic which has seen a spike in cases in recent weeks and local lockdowns.
The Save Romania alliance-Plus is a diverse mix of mostly young politicians who are pushing for a reformed political class and first entered Parliament four years ago,
A satellite party of the Social Democrats which is headed by former Prime Minister Victor Ponta was the choice of 9,5% of respondents, more than the October poll.
A pary representing Romania’s ethnic Hungarians had 5.1% which would guarantee it seats in the Parliament.
Other parties polled less than the minimum 5% needed to cross the threshold.
The survey was carried out by the Institute of Marketing and Opinion Polls (IMAS) for Europa FM from Nov. 6-27 and 1,010 people were questioned.
It had a 3.1% margin of error, pollsters said.
