Opinion poll: Ponta 55 pct, Iohannis 45 pct in presidential runoff

Incumbent Prime Minister Victor Ponta, running for president from the alliance of his Social Democrat Party with the National Union for Romania's Progress and the Conservative party, would get 55 percent of the votes in the runoff next Sunday; his opponent Klaus Iohannis of the Christian Liberal Alliance was credited with 45 percent by an opinion poll carried out by SOCIOPOL and broadcasted on Saturday night by the Antena 3 television.

The figures are similar to those of a November 5 survey by CSCI.

SOCIOPOL's research showed 67 percent of respondents were very interested in the presidential elections; 21 percent declared themselves rather interested, 7 percent — rather not interested, 4 percent — very little interested or not interested at all; 1 percent do not know or do not respond.

Also, 55 percent said they will vote, 29 percent will not, and 16 percent will not be in the country on November 16, the runoff ballot date.

Some 59 percent of the respondents expect Ponta to win, 22 percent trust Ionannis's victory, and 19 percent do not know or do not answer.

The opinion poll was carried out between November 5 and 7, on a sample fo 1005 phone interviews. The maximum error is +/—3.2 percent with a confidence level of 95 percent. AGERPRES