Political leaders react to Iohannis' re-election

President Klaus Iohannis has won a second term as Romania's president, according to exit poll findings released on Sunday at the closing of the polls by pollsters accredited by the Central Electoral Bureau. National leader of the People's Movement Party (PMP) Eugen Tomac congratulates President Klaus Iohannis on winning the election and suggests that the diaspora be represented proportionally in Romania's Parliament in Bucharest, pointing to nearly one million Romanian citizens having voted from abroad. Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan says that the day of the second round of the presidential election, won by Klaus Iohannis, is "a great day for Romania, the day when Romanians said by vote in what kind of country they want to live." Pro Romania leader Victor Ponta said on Sunday, after the exit-poll results, that he is not happy that the National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate, Klaus Iohannis, won, adding that the national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Viorica Dancila, Iohannis' contender in the Sunday's presidential runoff, "still lives in a lie," as he argues that never before did PSD presidential candidate get such bad a score. Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) national leader Kelemen Hunor said he expects President Klaus Iohannis to take firm action over the next five years on a number of important areas, such as education or infrastructure. Former president Traian Basescu predicts PSD national chair Viorica Dancila will resign from the helm of the party, but the "big problem" is who will take her place in the context of a penury of leaders. Save Romania Union (USR) national leader Dan Barna congratulates Klaus Iohannis on the victory in the presidential election and tells him that he expects him to "be more involved than he was in the first term and immediately start discussions with the political parties to trigger an early election." The USR PLUS Alliance is considering collaborating with PNL, and the first talks already took place, said PLUS leader, MEP Dacian Ciolos, on Sunday. PNL national leader, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, said that PNL had reached the goal of President Klaus Iohannis winning the election by over 65% of the votes, adding that PSD is a retrograde party, declaring himself convinced that the party will not bounce back. Orban also said PNL will try to preserve the majority created for the censure motion and for getting his cabinet voted in office, indicating that there will be discussions about the opportunity of organising early elections. The result of the presidential election is not a surprise, and Klaus Iohannis' boon is called Liviu Dragnea, the indicted former PSD chair, said Theodor Paleologu, the PMP presidential candidate in the first round of the presidential election. "Today's result to me is absolutely no surprise, it's exactly what I expected to happen, namely a crushing result, but it's a vote against, not a vote for Iohannis," he said. PSD Bucharest chair Gabriela Firea said that the final score of Viorica Dancila in the presidential election is the one that will result after the official count by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) is over, as well as after the parallel vote tabulation, adding that the usual rules regarding exclusions from the PSD can be broken, as what is important is to analyse the causes that led to Dancila losing the election. Chairman of PES Activists Romania Victor Negrescu said that the PSD must undertake a modernisation of messages, policies and the way they communicate. AGERPRES (EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)