A second term for Klaus Iohannis. The outgoing president - liberal - Romania won Sunday, November 24, the presidential election with a large lead, according to two polls conducted at the end of the polls.

The 60-year-old former physics professor polled between 64.8% and 66.5% of the vote, according to polls, inflicting the most severe defeat on a leading left-wing candidate since the fall of communist regime thirty years ago.

Viorica Dancila, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and opponent of the outgoing head of state would total between 33.5% and 35.2% of the vote. The latter led the government for almost two years before being overthrown last October by Parliament.

A left-wing party with populist and eurosceptic overtones, the PSD has dominated Romanian political life since 1990. Today, it is paying the price for its growing unpopularity, linked in particular to its attempts to weaken anti-corruption justice, and to the scandals that have affected many of his elected officials. The broad lead taken by Klaus Iohannis after the second round of the presidential election reflects the desire of voters to defend the rule of law and the fight against corruption.

High favorite of the poll, Klaus Iohannis was supported by the tens of thousands of Romanians who have taken to the streets since 2017 to denounce the justice reforms led by the left.

Turn the page of crises

Electrician in Bucharest, Cristina, 42, who works in the health sector, said she hoped that "democracy will prevail, so that Romanians can finally live in peace" and turn the page of crises repeatedly provoked in recent years by the PSD.

After the motion of censure against Viorica Dancila, a center-right cabinet under the leadership of the National Liberal Party (PNL), from which Klaus Iohannis was born, took the reins of government. But the PSD remains a majority in parliament and the next legislative elections are scheduled for the end of 2020.

The seventh most populous country in the European Union with 19.4 million inhabitants, Romania has great disparities between urban centers, whose standard of living is close to European standards, and rural areas, among the poorest from the continent. In this Eastern European country, nearly one inhabitant in two lives in the countryside.

In recent years, Romania has recorded strong economic growth rates (7% in 2017 and 4.1% in 2018), boosted by increases in pensions and salaries in the public sector granted by the PSD.

But these largesse raised the concern of the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who warned against an explosion of the deficit.

With AFP