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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 23-29/11/2009 |
| (2009-11-27) |
| Last updated: 2009-12-02 16:34 EET |
The election campaign started again in Romania on Thursday, when the Constitutional Court validated the results of the first round of the presidential election. Running for president on December 6th are the incumbent head of state Traian Basescu, supported by the pro-presidential Liberal Democratic Party and the current Senate speaker, the president of the opposition Social Democratic Party, Mircea Geoana. Basescu won the first round with 32.44% of the votes, and Geoana got 31.15%. The only one of the 12 candidates who also had a say in the race was the leader of the National Liberal party, in opposition, Crin Antonescu, voted by 20% of the voters. Also on Thursday, the Constitutional Court validated the results of the referendum held on the very same day, on turning Parliament into a single chamber body, with a maximum of 300 MPs. 78% of the Romanians who went to the polls voted for a single-chamber Parliament and 89% stood for a cut in the number of MPs from 471 to 300.
Following the results of the first round of the presidential election, the main opposition parties, the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party have signed a political cooperation agreement with two big objectives: liberal support for the social democrat candidate Mircea Geoana in the runoff, and provided he wins, the formation of a coalition government headed by the mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis. Previously, the liberals had concluded a similar agreement with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Geoana has stated that the agreement with the liberals is a major step towards ensuring political stability in Romania. Crin Antonescu, who boasts the best performance by a liberal leader in the past 20 years has said he will try to channel most of the votes cast for him in the first round towards his new ally, with the hope that on December 6th Romania will get another president, capable of guaranteeing the balance of powers in the state and of playing the part of mediator in society. On the other hand, the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Emil Boc, has denounced what he called ‘ the political transaction’ aimed at ensuring future common business, running counter to the national interest. Politically isolated, the head of state Traian Basescu has told his opponents that the fight for presidency is not over yet.
This week, Romania has joined the countries where the AH1N1 virus has caused deaths, two dead being reported. Also, the number of contamination cases is growing by the day, currently exceeding 2500. To prevent its spread, authorities have started the national vaccination campaign, using a vaccine made by the Cantacuzino Institute in Bucharest, one of the eight European producers agreed by the World Health Organisation. The first 1.3 million doses will be used to immunize pupils over 15, students, medical and army staff, policemen and customs officers. For the children in the 6 months – 15 years age bracket, vaccination will start in January, when all the tests have been completed. The first to benefit are Bucharest and several cities in Moldova, where most cases have been reported. Though specialists say that the potential side effects are less severe than those generated by a regular flu, not everybody is sure the vaccine is safe enough.
The famed and controversial Indian born British writer Salman Rushdie, the author of “The Satanic Verses”, has paid a visit to Romania this week, being also a guest of the Gaudeamus international book fair in Bucharest. He gave autographs, met book lovers and read out from his most recent novel ‘The Enchantress from Florence’, which was translated into Romanian. Participating in this year’s fair, which was first held in 1994 at the initiative of Radio Romania, are 400 exhibitors, Romanian and foreign publishers, education institutions, multimedia companies, professional associations, cultural centres and NGOs. One special event hosted by the fair was the launch of the novel ‘Back then the fox was the hunter’ by the 2009 Nobel winner, Romanian born German writer Herta Muller.
Romania’s football champion team Unirea Urziceni on Tuesday night snatched a valuable 1-nil win against the Spanish side FC Seville, in a match counting for the Champions League’s Group C. With eight points amassed in 6 games played, Unirea rank second in the group and only need a laid-back draw in their last game against the German stronghold VfB Stuttgart to qualify for the eighth finals of the competition, which would really be a first in Romanian football. For his team’s results, Unirea’s coach Dan Petrescu was awarded a special prize at the Romanian Football Gala. At the same event, Romanian football coach Mircea Lucescu whose team Shaktar Donetsk this year reaped the UEFA Cup’s last edition, was awarded the 2009 best Romanian football coach award. The footballer of the year award went to the Romanian international footballer Razvan Rat, also playing for Shaktar Donetsk.
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