Romanian presidential runoff election slated for Nov. 16

BUCHAREST, Romania, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Two candidates in the Romanian presidential election face a Nov. 16 runoff after none received a majority in the weekend's voting.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta, 42, of Romania's Social Democratic Party received 40.33 percent of the vote in Sunday's election. Klaus Iohannis, 55, National Liberal Party candidate and mayor of Sibiu, receiving 30.44 percent, with 98.3 percent of the votes among 14 candidates counted. Former Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariseanu was third with 5.4 percent of the votes.

The first round of the election had a 53 percent turnout.

Ponta and Iohannis will run in the second round of the election. Voters are replacing Traian Basescu, who is leaving the presidency because of a mandated two-term limit.

Ponta was Basescu's premier for two years, and feuded openly with the president, attempting to have Basescu impeached in 2012. Basescu recently accused Ponta of being a spy.

Romania is the poorest of European Union countries, and according to the advocacy organization Transparency International, one of the EU's most corrupt members.

"These are worrying results for Victor Ponta. Everyone knew he would be in first place after this round, but now it could be a very tough second round," Adrian Moraru of Bucharest's Institute for Public Policy told the New York Times.