Romanian PM Set to Run For Presidency

The executive board of the ruling Social Democratic Party, PSD, decided on Monday that Victor Ponta would be the party’s candidate for the presidential elections, and an official announcement is to be made by the end of this month. 

“As the party seems decided to support my candidacy, I am ready to run for it,” Ponta said after PSD meeting, although he also said that the party was "not in any hurry" over the issue.

An opinion poll last week suggested that Ponta would get 46.3 per cent of the votes in the first round of the next presidential elections, while the president of the opposition National Liberal Party, Klaus Iohannis, would come second with 32.6 per cent of the votes.

The voting would then go to a second round run-off in which Ponta would get 55 per cent of the votes and Iohannis would get 45 per cent, the survey conducted by the Political Rating Agency pollster suggested.

“Taking into consideration latest polls but also the force of the current ruling coalition, Victor Ponta is for sure the main favourite to win next presidential elections in November,” political analyst Alexandru Radu told BIRN.

“On the other hand, this should also happen because the centrist opposition is capitalising more on Ponta’s own political mistakes than on promoting its candidate," Radu said.

The presidential elections, scheduled for November 2, are important for Romania because the future president has to right to nominate the Prime Minister, the chiefs of intelligence services and the heads of anti-corruption bodies.

The current centre-left ruling coalition is confident it will win the election, judging by its performance  in the European parliamentary elections in May, when it got around 38 per cent of...