By Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu leads in opinion surveys ahead of a presidential election which could see him face an opposition far-right party leader in the second round.
Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, holds a two-round presidential contest on Nov. 24 and Dec. 8, with a parliamentary election also scheduled in between, on Dec. 1.
As the Romanian president’s powers include oversight of foreign policy, the winner will play a critical role in determining how committed the country remains to supporting neighbouring Ukraine in its war against invading Russian forces.
Fourteen candidates are running for the presidency to replace outgoing Klaus Iohannis, a centrist who completes his second and final term in December.
Conducted by pollster Curs, the survey showed 56-year-old Ciolacu gaining 26% of the vote in the first round. George Simion, leader of the opposition hard-right grouping Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) placed second with 17%.
Simion’s lead over three other candidates is within the survey’s margin of error of 3.1%.
Former NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoana – running as an independent – would get 15% of the vote, as would the leader of the ruling coalition Liberals, Nicolae Ciuca.
Elena Lasconi, a two-term mayor and leader of the centre-right opposition Save Romania Union (USR) would get 14% of the vote. The poll surveyed 1,006 people between Oct. 11-16.
Simion’s rise in opinion surveys comes after Romania’s top court decided this month to bar Diana Sosoaca, leader of the small far-right party SOS Romania, from running in a ruling that analysts said overstepped the judges’ powers.
Sosoaca, a European Parliament member, is known for anti-Semitic and pro-Russian views. Asked in the CURS survey whether the decision to remove Sosoaca was right or wrong, respondents were evenly split.
Analysts said Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democrats (PSD), is likely to beat Simion in the second round of the presidential election over other candidates by appealing to moderate voters. A PSD leader has not been president of Romania since 2004.
The CURS survey also showed the PSD winning 31% of the vote in December’s parliamentary election, ahead of the centre-right Liberals with 20%, AUR with 18% and USR with 15%.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Gareth Jones)
