Eleven candidates will compete for the presidency in Romania in the repeat elections in May, the Agerpres agency reported, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio. Among them are four independents and seven candidates nominated by parties.
26 people submitted documents to participate in the vote, but the Central Electoral Bureau and the Constitutional Court rejected candidates, including the winner of last year's annulled elections, Calin Georgescu.
There will therefore be 11 names on the ballot for the first round on May 4. These are: Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan (independent); Crin Antonescu (candidate of the ruling coalition); former Prime Minister Victor Ponta (independent); Elena Lasconi (leader of the Union for the Salvation of Romania party); Gheorghe Simion (leader of the Alliance for the Unification of Romanians party); Lavinia Săndru (Humanist Social Liberal Party); Cristian Terheș (Romanian National Conservative Party); John Ion Banu-Muțel (independent); Silviu Predoiu (National Action League); Daniel Funeriu (independent) and Sebastian-Constantin Popescu (New Romania Party).
The candidacy of the leader of the sovereigntist Youth Party (POT) Anamaria Gavrila was approved, but she withdrew it last night to support the other sovereigntist candidate - Gheorghe Simion. This strategy was agreed upon at a meeting between Anamaria Gavrila, Gheorghe Simion and Calin Georgescu, after the Constitutional Court banned him from participating in the repeat election on March 11.
Five of the candidates - Elena Lasconi, Gheorghe Simion, Cristian Terhes, Silviu Predoiu and Sebastian-Constantin Popescu also participated in the presidential elections last year.
Agerpress Agency also reported that the order of candidates on the ballot will be determined on March 22.
The election campaign begins on April 4 and will end on May 3 at 7:00 a.m.
Voting on the territory of Romania will begin at 7:00 a.m. on May 4 and will end at 9:00 p.m., with the possibility of extension until 11:59 p.m. if there are still people wishing to vote in front of the polling stations.
If no candidate wins an absolute majority, a second round will be held on May 18.
Voting abroad is held over three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in both rounds.