Romanians today elect their 7th president, the current one - Klaus Iohannis , is not among the candidates.
The polling stations opened at 07:00 in the morning and will close at 21:00, the National Romanian Television reported.
Over 18 million Romanians have the right to vote. Today is the first round of the presidential elections, and the second is scheduled for December 8. Next Sunday, December 1, the parliamentary elections will be held.
In this year's presidential elections, 14 candidates are on the ballot, of which ten are supported by parties and four are independent candidates.
There are almost a million Romanians abroad with the right to vote in these elections. The first polling station to open was the one in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday at 01:00.
At 12.00 in the first round of the presidential elections, 3,960,071 voters voted, which represents 21.99% of those entered in the electoral rolls. 1,792,643 voters voted in the city, and 1,173,894 voters in the villages. 16,587 voters declared their choice with the mobile ballot box. In Bucharest, 246,333 voters voted, which represents 13.80% of citizens with the right to vote.
The presidential candidates are:
Elena-Valerica Lasconi from "Union Save Romania"
George-Nicolae Simion from the "Alliance for the Unification of Romanians"
Jon-Marcel Cholaku of the Social Democratic Party, who is currently Prime Minister
Nicolae-Ionel Chuka from the National Liberal Party
Hunor Kelemen from the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
Mircea-Dan Joana - independent candidate
Anna Birchall - independent candidate
Alexandra-Beatrice Bertalan-Pakuraru from Alternative for National Dignity
Sebastian-Constantin Popescu from the "New Romania" party
Ludovic Orban from the Strong Right.
Orbán initially announced that he was withdrawing from the race and gave his support to Elena Lasconi, but still appeared on the ballot as a candidate.
Calin Georgescu - independent candidate
Cristian Diaconescu - independent candidate
Cristian-Vasil Terhes - Romanian National Conservative Party
Silviu Predoju from the "League for National Action" party
According to public opinion polls, the most likely candidates for the second round will be Marcel Ciolacu, who is the leader of the Social Democratic Party, and George-Nicolae Simion of the "Alliance for the Unification of Romanians".
Analysts expect Cholaku to win the presidential election in the second round, in turn attracting moderate voters, but a turn in the election due to dissatisfaction with the high cost of living cannot be ruled out.
But election day was overshadowed by a border policeman who was stabbed in the head, BTA reported.
This morning, the Territorial Inspectorate of the Gürgevo border police announced that it had found a border policeman who was supposed to be guarding polling station 121, shot in the head.
The police specify that the officer was found on the morning of November 24 in his private car with a gunshot wound to the head. He was transported to the emergency department of Gyurghevo.