PDSR (Party of Social Democracy) got the highest number of mayor mandates at a national level (32.82 percent), after the second round, but lost the position of Bucharest mayor, which was won by PD (Democrat Party). The party led by Petre Roman came second, with 19.18 percent, according to partial results centralised by the Central Electoral Bureau. Next come ApR (Alliance for Romania) with 13.30 percent, PNL (Liberal Party) with 10.89 percent and CDR (Romanian Democrat Convention) with 6.42 percent. Independent candidates attracted 4.43 percent of votes. UFD (Union of Right-wing Forces) got 11 mandates, PUNR (Party of National Union) and PDSR each got ten, PNR (National Romanian Party) eight mandates, PUR, six and UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) won four mandates.
In line with final results supplied by the Municipal Electoral Bureau (BEM), in Bucharest, of 715,891 votes validly expressed for the Capital City Hall, Basescu attracted 362,853 votes (50.69 percent), while Sorin Oprescu got 353,038 (49.31 percent). In the case of Bucharest districts, PDSR candidates come first, the difference between candidates being of at least ten thousand votes. Vasile Gherasim defeated Petrica Diaconu in district 1, and Nicolae Ontanu beat Vladimir Popescu (CDR) for district 2. In district 3, Eugen Plesca won the position of mayor, over Adrian Ghita, with the Convention, while Vasile Mihalache was preferred to Oliviu Dobre. Dan Vanghelie is preparing to take over district 5, where Horia Radocea lost, an example also followed by Dan Darabont, who won over Ioan Dinuta.
In the opinion of IMAS sociologist Mircea Kivu, Basescu represented the option “of an important part of those who voted for the candidates that were defeated during the first round, Chirita, Padure or Vosganian.” A significant percentage was represented by those who “had not voted two weeks ago.” “Though vote attendance was lower, on one hand, about half of those who favoured the ones who were dismissed during the first round did not vote, while others, about two thirds, voted for Basescu,” Kivu considers. As regards the defeat of Convention candidates at the level of districts, the sociologist says that they “concluded the electoral campaign two weeks ago, and CDR failed to mobilise the electorate.” In his turn, Sebastian Lazaroiu, of CURS, thinks that “those who did not attend the first round voted against PDSR during the next round.”
As for the Transports portfolio, PD leaders decided last night that it should go to Oradea senator Vasile Blaga. Blaga was a member of PD campaign team and three months ago he was re-elected as the party’s secretary general.
In many of the country’s large cities, the current authorities will rule for another four years. This is what happened in Cluj, where Gheorghe Funar (Great Romania Party – PRM) obtained 53.12%, defeating CDR candidate aerban Radulescu, and in Iasi, where Constantin Simirad (Moldavians Party), was preferred by 57.51% of electors. In Giurgiu, the current mayor, Lucian Iliescu (a member of the Liberal Party), won his second mandate, scoring 60.3% in the second round.
A former representative of the Socialist Labour Party (PSM) who eventually joined the Party of Social Democracy (PDSR), Vasile Bulucea, won in his turn the confidence of 66.88% of the voters in Craiova, while the population of Brasov gave four more years to Ioan Ghise. The Democratic Convention won another mandate in Timisoara, where Constantin Ciuhandu got 65.76% of the votes, against the 34.24 percent obtained by the PDSR candidate Simion Surdan.
However, in Galati mayor Eugen Dubarca (ApR) lost in front of Nicolae Dumitru (PDSR), who got 62.99%. A change occurred in Constanta as well, where Radu Mazare, a former colleague of Basescu and now an independent, won with 64.83%, defeating Tudor Balta, PDSR representative. In Targu Mures, UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) lost in front of its coalition partners, the new mayor being Dorin Florea who defeated Fodor Imre. A representative of the ruling Coalition defeated UDMR in Oradea as well, Kapy Istvan being outstripped by Petru Filip (PD). Csedo Csaba Istvan, a representative of Hungarian community, but independent, will run the city hall in Miercurea Ciuc. He was chosen out for this position by 87% of voters, after having faced another Hungarian, UDMR representative Biro Albin. Sociologist Sebastian Lazaroiu believes that the results of the general election will be very different from those of local elections. He says that according to a poll conducted in the voting sections on June 4, “people make a distinction between votes granted in each of the two situations.” Thus, in local elections, the former opposition was expected to receive 25% of votes, while for general elections it is estimated that PDSR will raise about 40% of voters’ preferences, Lazaroiu explained.