Elections 2004 In Romania

Results of exit polls released at the end of voting at 21:00 local time show that Adrian Nastase, running for presidency from SDP-RHP (PSD+PUR), got 41.1%. Traian Basescu, presidential candidate for the NLP-DP Allianc (Alianta PNL-PD) got 35.2% of the vote.
The two men will face each other in the second round of presidential elections, due in two weeks time.
The make of the parliament showed that SDP got 38.9% of the votes in the House of Deputies, while the NLP-DP got 35.4% of the votes. In the Senate, SDP got 39% of the votes, and the NLP-DP Alliance got 35.4% of the votes.
The exit poll was conducted by CURS polling institute. According to the exit poll conducted by the INSOMAR polling institute, Adrian Nastase got 43.7% of the votes, while Traian Basescu got 34.7%.
While the make of the Senate was: 40.1% for SDP-RHP, versus 33.8% for NLP-DP; and the make of the House of Deputies was: 39.9% for SDP-RHP, versus 33.5% for NLP-DP.

The voters’ turn-out, one hour before ending the vote was 57.3%, which is close to the voters’ turn-out of 2000, which stayed at 56.52%, according to the Central Electoral Bureau. The turn-out resulted from figures released by 2,570 polling stations around the country. The turn-out of voters in rural areas was 60.64%, compared to turn-out of voters in urban areas, which was 54.41%.
The first official count will be available from the Central Electoral Bureau Monday morning, at 9:00 local time.
Some 17,564 polling stations opened today in Romania and other 90 states around the world for the 18 million Romanians expected to elect a new parliament and a new president. The Parliament will have a four year mandate and the President a five-year one.
Voting started at 07:00 and will end at 21:00 local time, with no possibility for the dead-line to be extended.
Organizing the vote cost this year 844.6 billion lei (some 21.1 million euros), of which a fourth was spent on the 2,000 tons of paper for printing the vote bulletins and making the stamps.
The leaders of the main political parties voted early in the morning.
Former liberal leader and presidential candidate, Theodor Stolojan, accompanied by his wife, said his health was very good. Elena Stolojan, his wife, commenting on her husband’s return to active politics said: „It is entirely his decision."
Mircea Geoana, current foreing affaris minister and prospective PM in a Social Democrat Party - Romanian Humanist Party (SDP-RHP) government, also came to vote accompanied by his wife and children. He stated that the elections this year are the most important ones following 1990, given that only 760 days part Romania from its full European Union membership.
Petre Roman, first post-commuinst PM and fomer foreign affaris minister in the 1996-2000 administration, now a presidential candidate for the Democratic Force from Romania, said: „It will be all fine and well for Romanians who are still struggling." He furhter said that the country needs leaders who are „benevolent, honest, and who serve the citizens."
Marko Bela, president, and Borbely Laszlo, vice-president of the Democrat Union of Hungarians in Romania, voted in Targu Mures. Both stated that in a second round of elections for the presidency they rule out recommending their constituents to vote for the same candiate the nationalist Greater Romania Party will support.
Traian Basescu, mayor of Bucharest and presidential candidate for the National Liberal Party - Democrat Party Alliance, also came to vote accompanied by family members: his wife, two daughters and a son-in-law, Bogdan (Bodo) Marin, the vocal artist of the Proconsul music band. Basescu said he will be a president who „will work every day, each day, for the happiness of the 22 million Romanians."
Adrian Nastase, current PM and presidential candidate for the SDP-RHP National Union, said he hoped with taking the presidential office to erradicate poverty in Romania. He was accompanied by Geoana and Dan Ioan Popescu, the leader of the Bucharest SDP organization, and other officials. Nastase was accompanied by family members too: his wife and two sons, but only the eldest one voted, as the youngest son is not yet of voting age.
The National Liberal Party leader, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, arrived at the voting booth accompanied by his wife, Ioana, and said he hoped for the 2004 vote to mean a „return to democracy."
President Ion Iliescu and his wife, Nina, voted in the capital city too. Iliescu, who ends now his last mandate, said that 15-years on from the Revolution of December 1989 Romanian society is well on its road to reaching normalicy. „Let us have the strength and the wisdom to consolidate this process of normality," said Iliescu, adding that he always worked a lot better with people younger than him.
Dan Voiculescu, president of the RHP, said he voted „for a more resposibile political leadrship, that will deliver more facts than words." Voiculescu said that he would like Romanians to have brighter glances following the elections of November 28. Voiculescu waited in line for 10 minutes at the polling station, and chatted this time with Adrian Severin, parliamentary of the SDP.