Ethnic German sweeps to victory in Romania's presidential runoff

Thousands of people gathered in Bucharest to celebrate after ethnic German mayor Klaus Iohannis decisively defeated Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta in a presidential runoff.

Ponta had been the favorite to win. However, Iohannis, mayor of the city of Sibiu, who promised to crack down on corruption, scored a surprise victory.

With 76 percent of the votes counted early on Monday, Iohannis was leading with 54.8 percent while Ponta had 45.2 percent. Ponta conceded defeat late on Sunday.

"I called Mr Iohannis, I congratulated him for the victory," he said at the entrance of his party headquarters in Bucharest, stressing that "people are always right".

Ponta, 42, ran for the presidency under the banner of the center-left Alliance of Social Democrats, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservatives, while 55-year-old Iohannis was backed by the center-right Christian Liberal Alliance, comprising the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Liberal Party.

The 55-year-old Iohannis first made his mark as the mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, which he helped make one of the country's main tourist destinations after taking office in 2000.

A good manager, he helped bring the medieval city up to Western standards. This made his reputation as someone who gets "work well done", which served as his slogan in the presidential campaign as he promised to do the same for the country.

In contrast to Ponta - who tried to widen immunity from prosecution for politicians and government officials - he has taken a strong line on transparency, saying even the president should be held to account.

"It is intolerable that justice should be impeded by immunity procedures," he said between the two rounds of voting.

However, his squeaky clean image was questioned when the Agency for Integrity group criticized him for being on the board of a local company while mayor of Sibiu, which the law forbids.

He has been leader of the National Liberal Party since June, and has never held government office.

Main support

Unlike his parents and tens of thousands of other members of Romania's German communities - who have roots in the country going back to the 12th century - Iohannis chose to stay in Romania after the fall of the then-leader Nicolae Ceaucescu in 1989.

Germany offered citizenship to the country's various impoverished German-speaking minorities after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Ponta's main support base comes from the hugely influential Romanian Orthodox Church, as well as from his party's traditional electorate - the rural population, small business employees and the elderly. He has been able to count on generally steady economic progress.

However, the economy fell into recession in the second quarter of 2014, though the government is forecasting 2.2 percent growth over the year.

Ahead of the vote, experts said Romania's diaspora, numbering about three million, could play a key role in swinging the result.

Only 160,000 were able to cast their ballots in the first round due to an insufficient number of polling stations in countries such as France, Germany and Britain.

On Sunday, long lines snaked outside polling stations in Paris, London and several other cities including the southern English town of Portsmouth, according to pictures shown on Romanian television.

AP - Xinhua - AFP

(China Daily 11/18/2014 page11)