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| ELECTION FACE-OFF 04/12/2009 |
| (2009-12-04) |
| Last updated: 2009-12-07 13:03 EET |
"Faced with a major decision, 18 million Romanians are going to the polls on Sunday to choose between 2 politicians with deeply divided views on the future of the country". This is the headline run by the daily Romania Libera ahead of the second round of the presidential elections. The two contenders for the five year term are Traian Basescu, the incumbent president and de facto leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, currently in power, and Mircea Geoana, Senate speaker and leader of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party.
The two clashed on Thursday evening in the only public debate ahead of the run-off. Opinion polls suggest that just 1% separates the candidates, with Basescu on 32% and Geoana on 31%, announcing the closest election in the last two decades. Thus, the two are attempting to win over the 20% of voters that opted for opponent Crin Antonescu in the first round. Geoana claims that polls indicate he has a 7 or 8% advance over his opponent and open support from the Liberals, who, he claims, will form part of the government if he wins.
Basescu, on the other hand, relies on what he calls right wing affinities between the Liberal Democrats and the Liberals. According to his own slogan, Basescu promised a “Romania for Romanians”, and said he would continue to reform state institutions, work for citizens and not for the political class and its dubious sponsors, whom he refers to as “moguls”.
The Social Democrat leader accuses the incumbent of wasting his first term without fulfilling any promises he made, of betraying his partners, and of simulating an anti-corruption campaign to hide his own corrupt clique, and of being a ferment for scandals. Thus, they claim, he ought to forfeit his right to a second term in office:
“He never managed to rise even once above his own interest in power and the interests of his own party”.
The acting president retorted by saying that Geoana is not president material, because he is a front for hidden interests and politicians who are currently under investigation in notorious corruption cases. Basescu said that such a person “cannot be a partner for the Romanian people”.
“He is not a forthcoming man. He claims he has principles, but he tramples them every chance he gets”.
Following the debate, the press is taking sides with one candidate or another, echoing their rhetoric. Evenimentul Zilei, a pro-presidential daily paper, calls December 6 a “decisive day”, and speaks against the political, financial and media clique behind Geoana, saying: “What they are doing to Basescu now, they will do to all of us, once Romania is left without a force to counter them”.
On the other hand, the deeply anti-Basescu Cotidianul writes: “After five years of scandals and dissension, Sunday’s elections could put an end to shame and bring about change”. The more neutral economic weekly Top Business warns, in a serious tone, that 2010 will be a year of austerity caused by the economic crisis which will erode confidence in the winner, no matter who it happens to be. In a jocular tone, it tries to answer the national question of “What interest groups lie behind each of the candidates?” Their answer was: “Basescu is behind Geoana if he wins, and Geoana is behind Basescu if he wins”.
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