Poll: If presidential elections organized next week, Romanian PM would win

Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta would get 46.3 percent of the votes, in the first round, if next presidential elections were to take place this Sunday in Romania, according to a poll conducted by the Political Rating Agency. Ponta is also head of the governing coalition which is made of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Conservatory Party (PC) and the National Union for Romania’s Progress (UNPR). He hasn't yet announce his candidacy for the presidential race in autumn, but is expected to do so this summer. The mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, who is now president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) but also has support from the Democrat Liberal Party (PDL), would come second, with 32.6 percent of the votes, and Cristian Diaconescu, who represents the Popular Movement Party (PMP), would get 6.2 percent. Next would come Corneliu Vadim Tudor, head of the right wing Large Romania Party (PRM), with 6 percent of the votes and media mogul Dan Diaconescu, with 5.4 percent. In the second round, Victor Ponta would get 55 percent of the votes and Klaus Iohannis would make 45 percent. Some 54 percent of the respondents to this poll think that Romania is heading in a wrong direction and less than 35 percent think that the country is going in the right direction. Still, more than 42 percent of those questioned would still vote for the governing coalition made of PSD, PC and UNPR, the poll shows. The poll also shows that Romanians have less trust in Romania’s leaders. The level of trust in Romania’s National Bank governor Mugur Isarescu fell to 58.4 percent, from 62.4 percent in April 2013. Isarescu however remains the most trusted leader in Romania. Some 46.2 percent of Romanians trust Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu, down from 55.1 percent in April 2013. Prime minister Victor Ponta has the trust of 44.4 percent of all Romanians, down from 50.7 percent, while his main opponent Klaus Iohannis is trusted by 40.4 percent of Romanians, compared to 44.6 percent in April 2013. He was surpassed by actor Mircea Diaconu, who run as an independent in the elections for the European Parliament, in May 2014, and got almost 7 percent of the votes. He has the trust of 41 percent of the Romanians. President Traian Basescu is trusted by some 22.2 percent of the Romanians, down from 23 percent in April 2013. The poll was conducted between June 16 and June 22, 2014, on a representative sample of Romania’s population, of some 1,010 people. It has a margin for error of 3 percentage points. The complete results of the poll (in Romanian), can be found here. editor@romania-insider.com