Romania - presidential election

Basescu declared President, social democrats call fraud

Article published on the 2009-12-07 Latest update 2009-12-07 13:50 TU

Trajan Basescu waves the Romanian flag after the first exit polls, 6 December 2009
(Photo: Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)

Romania’s centre-right President, Trajan Basescu, was declared the winner of the second round of Presidential elections. Supporters of his opponent, Social Democrat Mircea Geoana, claim fraud in the poll.

The Romanian Central Electoral Bureau called the election for Basescu with 99.95 percent of the ballots counted, giving Basescu 50.33 per cent and Geoana 49.66 per cent.

The candidates came in neck-and-neck in the first round, and exit polls late Sunday, after the second round, gave Geoana the lead by up to three percentage points.

Both candidates celebrated victory Sunday nightm, but Social Democrats are now bringing up election irregularities.

"We are obliged to contest the result of the election," said party official Liviu Dragne, citing cancelled ballots and altered returns by local election offices.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had a monitoring mission in the country, and the head of the mission, Vadim Zhadanovich, said voting was “generally in line with OSCE commitments".

He called for an investigation into claims of voting irregularities.

Romanians living outside the country cast some 147,000 votes, and may have tilted the results towards Basescu as votes were being counted. In the first round he won 56 per cent of the vote from abroad.