USL wins parliamentary elections

With the general election results reshaping Romania's parliamentary map, politicians are negotiating new alliances, with the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) reporting that the Social Liberal Union (USL) had won 58.63 per cent of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 60.03 per cent for the Senate, as we went to press.

December 2012 - From the Print Edition

Runner-up in the Parliamentary race was the Right Romania Alliance (ARD) with 16.69 per cent of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 16.95 per cent for the Senate. Dan Diaconescu′s recently founded People′s Party Dan Diaconescu (PPDD) came third, with 13.53 per cent of the ballots for the Chamber of Deputies and 14.18 per cent for the Senate, while the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) barely reached the necessary five per cent threshold to enter Parliament, with 5.31 per cent votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 5.40 per cent for the Senate.
A possible alliance between the USL and UDMR has been mooted by political leaders.
"[UDMR President Kelemen Hunor] confirmed that the UDMR is willing and that we′ll start talks in order to have a constitutional governmental and parliamentary majority which would allow significant changes and reforms in the coming years," said incumbent Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
Added Humor, "We′ll start talks with the USL when we hear the final results, as the UDMR should be represented both at a parliamentary and government level."
However, Minister of Culture and National Liberal Party senator Puiu Hasotti said he was against a union with the UDMR, as promises he made to his electorate involved keeping the minority party out of the ruling coalition.
One result which attracted particular attention was the battle to become Targu Jiu deputy, where Prime Minister Victor Ponta faced vocal PPDD leader Dan Diaconescu. Ponta won a third term as deputy for Targu Jiu, winning 60.98 per cent of the votes against 34.47 per cent for Diaconescu.
Former Prime Minister and Civic Force president Mihai Razvan Ungureanu ranked second in terms of votes obtained in the No. 1 Senatorial College in Arad, receiving 33.6 per cent of votes, while USL rival Ovidiu Marian won 45.8 per cent.
The PSD candidate in Dolj, Mircea Geoana, was given a third term as senator in Dabuleni, with 70.75 per cent of the votes.
The overall turnout was 41.72 per cent of the electorate, with a distribution of 40.49 per cent in the cities and 43.40 per cent in rural areas, according to the Electoral Bureau. In Bucharest the turnout was lower than the national average, reaching only 39.36 per cent.