Opinion poll: Ponta ahead of Iohannis in first, second round of presidential election

Prime Minister Victor Ponta would get 46 percent of Romanians' votes in the first round of the presidential elections, while Klaus Iohannis would have 24 percent, the most recent CSCI poll remitted on Monday to AGERPRES shows.

The poll shows that after the two main contenders, the scores would be Calin Popescu Tariceanu (Liberal Reformist Party) — 9 percent, Dan Diaconescu (People's Party — Dan Diaconescu) — 5 percent, Cristian Diaconescu (candidate of the People's Movement Party when the survey was conducted; turned independent on Monday) — 5 percent, Kelemen Hunor (Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania; UDMR) — 4 percent, Corneliu Vadim Tudor (Greater Romania Party; PRM) — 2 percent, Monica Macovei (independent) — 2 percent, Viorel Catarama — 1 percent, Ioan Ghise — 1 percent and other candidates — 1 percent.

In the second round of the election, Ponta would get 58 percent and Iohannis 42 percent, the survey indicates.

In another variant, Ponta would defeat independent Cristian Diaconescu by 72 to 28 percent.

CSCI data shows that the combined percentage of votes garnered by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) in the last elections (European Parliament elections in May 2014) is higher than the projected voting intentions for the two parties' common candidate Klaus Iohannis.

As regards the outcome of the presidential elections, 70 percent of Romanians believe that Ponta will become the President of Romania in November, compared to 17 percent who credit Iohannis with the first chance. CSCI data for this question is reported to the 65 percent of responders who chose to answer the question.

The poll was carried out between August 11-14, 2014 on a sample...