The Liberal President would win 35 pc, followed by Premier Victor Ponta with 15 per cent.
USL co-president and PNL President Crin Antonescu would win the first round of presidential elections by a comfortable margin, an Avangarde poll conducted on February 11-18 and ordered by Realitatea TV shows. According to the poll, quoted by realitatea.net, the PNL President would win 35 per cent of the votes, followed by Premier Victor Ponta with 15 per cent, PP-DD President Dan Diaconescu and Civic Force President Mihai Razvan Ungureanu (both with 9 per cent). National Bank of Romania (BNR) Governor Mugur Isarescu, PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor and President Traian Basescu (who can no longer run for another term in office) would win 4 per cent, while Sibiu Mayor Klaus Johannis would obtain 3 per cent. In case of general elections PSD would win 37 per cent, PNL 24 per cent, PDL 13 per cent and PP-DD 11 per cent. A spectacular new-entry is that of Mihai Razvan Ungureanu’s Civic Force (6 per cent). On the other hand, Romanians do not seem convinced that the Social-Liberal Union (USL) will resist for long, 40 per cent of them stating that the alliance will break apart by the general elections of 2016. 36 per cent of the respondents believe USL will survive. At the same time, 44 per cent want EP elections organized simultaneously with presidential elections, like Premier Victor Ponta recently proposed. The Avangarde poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.27 per cent and was conducted on a sample of 900 persons.
Tariceanu and Oprescu outclass Antonescu and Ponta when it comes to confidence
The Romanians’ voting preferences have not changed a lot since the last elections, internal polls ordered by parties and quoted by Romania TV show. According to the aforementioned source, two opinion polls conducted by CSCI and CCSB reveal that Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu surpasses PSD President Victor Ponta when it comes to confidence, 54 per cent of the respondents having confidence in Oprescu and 52 per cent in Ponta. According to IRES and CSOP polls, when it comes to confidence PDL President Vasile Blaga scored just 15 per cent while his contender Elena Udrea scored 17 per cent. There were surprises within PNL too. According to IRES, CCSB and GSS polls, the electorate has more confidence in former premier Calin Popescu Tariceanu than in current PNL President Crin Antonescu. Thus, 34 per cent of the respondents have confidence in Tariceanu and only 27 per cent in Antonescu. Liberal Mihai Voicu stated on Romania TV that PNL did not order IRES, CCSB and GSS opinion polls: “We are not working with these polling institutes. PNL is an institution and has not ordered any poll. If a physical person wants to order and invest in opinion polls he is free to do it. It’s not my concern if the poll is ordered by Mr. Chiliman but not by PNL as an institution,” Voicu added.
IRES and CSCI polls: 64 pc would vote USL, 14 pc PDL
On the other hand, two polls published by IRES and CSCI and quoted by rtv.net claim that USL tops the Romanian preferences with 64 per cent. PDL is second with 14 per cent and the People’s Party (PP-DD) is third with 8 per cent. According to the same polls, PSD is first among the three parties forming the Social-Liberal Union (PSD, PNL and PC – editor’s note). Thus, PSD would win 65 per cent of the votes if elections were held next Sunday. PNL would be second with 27 per cent and the Conservative Party third with just 2 per cent.
