Romania: Polling Stations Open for Presidential Election
Ballot boxes in Romania, 2024. X/ @HarZizn
November 24, 2024 Hour: 6:49 am
If no candidate secures a majority, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders in two weeks
On Sunday, nearly 19,000 polling stations opened in Romania at 07:00 local time for the first round of presidential elections to select the next head of state for a five-year term.
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The polling stations will remain open until 21:00 or until everyone present at that time has cast their vote. Preliminary results are expected to be published as soon as the polls close, based on exit polls, with official results anticipated around 23:00. The ballots feature the names of 14 presidential candidates.
According to surveys, the frontrunner is the current Prime Minister, Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, who is leading in the polls with 24 percent of the projected vote, followed by far-right candidate George Simion (15.4 percent) and liberal-conservative Elena Lasconi (15.3 percent).
Under the Romanian Constitution, if no candidate secures a majority, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders in two weeks. The candidate who gets the most valid votes will be the winner. Bucharest residents are also voting in a referendum on local governance and public health initiatives, including funding for drug prevention programs in schools.
Romania’s president serves a five-year term, with a maximum of two consecutive terms allowed. A majority is not expected to be reached in the first round of the election, meaning Romanians will almost certainly need to return to the polls on December 8 for a runoff.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
