Exit polls in presidential elections in Romania indicated on Monday that incumbent President Traian Basescu and his main opponent, former foreign minister Mircea Geoana, will have to face a runoff on December 6.
Presidential elections were held in Romania on Sunday amid an ongoing political and economic crisis. A total of 12 candidates were in the race for top office.
According to the exit polls, Basescu has garnered at least 32.8% of the vote while Geoana, who is the leader of the Social Democratic Party, managed to secure 31.7% of the ballots with as many as 53.52% of legitimate voters participating in the election, local media reported.
Under the Romanian Constitution, if no candidate gets more than 50% in the first round of the vote, a runoff is to take place.
The Romanian center-left coalition government of Emil Boc collapsed in October as a result of party feuding. Boc has run a caretaker government with limited powers since then.
The new president is expected to appoint a prime minister to form a new cabinet.
The country has plunged into a deep recession, with its deficit expected to exceed 14% of GDP this year. The International Monetary Fund blocked a 1.5 billion euro bailout loan after Bucharest failed to resolve political crisis and to approve budget cuts for 2010.
Sunday's presidential poll was the first to take place in Romania since the country joined the European Union in 2007 and the sixth since the fall of a communistic government in 1989.
The exit polls also showed that the majority of voters supported parliamentary reforms in the country during a referendum, which was held simultaneously with the presidential elections on Sunday.
The reforms, initiated by the president, stipulate introduction of a unicameral parliament of up to 300 deputies instead of the current bicameral parliament, consisting of 137 senators and 334 deputies.
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti)
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