Romania’s Iohannis hopes for new presidential term to boost rule of law

FAN Editor
Combination picture shows Romanian incumbent candidate Iohannis and former Romanian PM Dancila in Bucharest
A combination picture shows Romanian incumbent candidate Klaus Iohannis (L) and former Romanian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viorica Dancila as they speak to the media in Bucharest, November 19, 2019. Pictures taken November 19, 2019. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea, Inquam Photos/George Calin via REUTERS

November 24, 2019

By Radu-Sorin Marinas

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanians look set on Sunday to re-elect centrist president Klaus Iohannis, who has pledged to step up a fight against corruption and restart a judicial reform slowed down by successive Social Democrat (PSD) governments.

While there have been no recent opinion polls, local bookmakers make Iohannis the short-odds favorite to beat former PSD prime minister Viorica Dancila comfortably in Sunday’s runoff.

Under a succession of PSD governments, Romania rolled back anti-corruption measures and weakened the independence of the courts. Along with ex-communist peers Poland and Hungary, it has been heavily criticized by Brussels for its actions.

However, the 60-year-old Iohannis has been credited by Western allies and the European Union with trying to protect the rule of law, in particular by challenging attempts to limit judges’ independence.

The president’s powers are mostly limited to nominating a prime minister on the basis of who can command a majority, challenging laws in the Constitutional Court, and appointing some chief prosecutors.

If elected again, Iohannis will have a chance to install anti-graft and anti-mafia prosecutors who are serious about tackling endemic corruption with the backing of Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, who became head of a liberal minority government by winning a parliamentary vote of confidence three weeks ago.

Teacher Andreea Mihai, 50, said that if Iohannis won on Sunday, “things should slowly return to normality.

“Both Orban and Iohannis will work together in the same direction.”

Dancila’s PSD had increased the burden of proof in corruption cases, reorganized panels of judges and set up a special unit to investigate magistrates for potential abuses, a move widely seen as an instrument of political coercion.

Romania’s judicial reforms have been monitored by Brussels since it joined the EU in 2007; in October, Brussels said the reforms were going backwards.

   Iohannis, a soft-spoken ethnic German and former mayor of Sibiu, became president in 2014.

He helped to secure a popular approval in a referendum last May that called for the government to be banned from altering legislation by emergency decree, and advocated a ban on amnesties and pardons for graft-related crimes.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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