Romania’s senior ruling party, the Social-Democrats (PSD) have selected Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă (55) as their candidate for the November presidential elections.
Within her party, Dăncilă’s main opponent was another woman, popular Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea (47), who eventually stepped back from candidacy, as did other prominent party members such as Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici and former defence minister Mihai Fifor. This left Dăncilă – who is also the party president since June – the PSD’s only candidate for the position.
Given that she has just officially been named candidate, there are no opinion polls rating her chances, but the latest polls conducted in June showed current liberal (PNL) President Klaus Iohannis as the clear favourite at 42.4 percent, with the next contender, former Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu a distant second at 15.5 percent.
Romania has a semi-presidential political system, with the head of the state having more powers than in the other countries of the region. The two-round presidential elections will be held on November 10 and 24 and the president is elected for five years.
According to the Romanian constitution any person can only hold the office twice.
Title image: Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă appointed by her party candidate for the November presidential elections.
