Romania’s leftist Social Democrats (PSD) won the most votes in countrywide local elections yesterday (5 June), according to an exit poll, putting them in a strong position before a parliamentary election later this year.
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The leftist Social Democrat Party, PSD, came out on top in the local elections in Romania, according to exit polls, but voter turnout was low at 48.4 per cent. The party also picked up all six districts in the capital.
The Social Democrats resigned from government in November after street protests following a deadly nightclub fire that raised corruption concerns.
In municipal councils, the PSD got 42 percent and the PNL garnered 32 percent of the ballot.
The first official results will be announced only tomorrow, the electoral commission said.
Firea also became the first female mayor in Bucharest’s history.
However, people who have been indicted of corruption but haven’t been convicted aren’t excluded from running for office.
Romanians began voting Sunday for local officials in administrations that are plagued with corruption.
A total of 12 candidates who won in the capitals of Romania’s 41 counties and seats for Bucharest’s six district mayors are being probed or have been indicted for corruption.
The PSD mayor of Baia Mare, Catalin Chereches, who is now in jail pending trial on corruption charges, was re-elected.
SPECIAL REPORT: Often those who write the technical specifications of tenders play a key role in the corruption schemes for public procurement, the Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Directorate of Romania (DNA) Laura Codru?a Kövesi told EurActiv Romania.
The current mayor of the city of Brasov, George Scripcaru, was arrested in 2015 for abuse of office, on suspicion of taking kickbacks from energy contracts and accepting bribes is running for a fourth term.
“I am honoured by your vote”.
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Romania, one of Europe’s poorest countries, is being run by an interim technocratic government until the next elections are held. Together with their allies, former Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s Liberal Democratic Alliance (ALDE) and the National Union for Romania’s Progress (UNPR), the social-democrats have taken over 50% of the votes cast in the local elections on Sunday.
