Presidential elections will be held in Romania on 22 November and 6 December 2009. At the same time there will be a referendum on introducing a unicameral Parliament of up to 300 deputies instead of the current bicameral Parliament.

Some 18 million Romanian voters are invited to choose their president for their next five years on Sunday. Polls opened at 7.00 in the morning with most candidates rushing to cast their vote early.

The voting process ends at 9 p.m. local time. Exit polls are also expected at 9 p.m..

12 candidates run in the poll, which takes place simultaneously with a referendum called by incumbent President Traian Basescu for a reform of the Parliament. Read more about the referendum and the presidential elections here.

There are 41 county-level electoral precincts, one in Bucharest and one covering the Diaspora, with a total of 21,706 voting sections.

According to Romanian law, the electoral system used for the election of the President is the majority-based, uninominal system. The candidate with a majority of votes in the first round of elections is elected president. If no candidate claims a majority, a second round of elections is organized with the two top candidates in the first round going to face each other again.

Top candidates such as Social Democrat Mircea Geoana, incumbent president Traian Basescu and Liberal Crin Antonescu were among the first to vote on Sunday, as was Klaus Johannis, one of the nominees for the prime minister position in negotiations for the formation of a new government following the collapse of the Democratic Liberal Government led by Emil Boc earlier this autumn.

The first to cast their votes were Romanians living in New Zealand on Saturday evening Romanian time, according to an announcement by the Romanian Foreign minister.

12 candidates are taking part in the race. The top four candidates in the opinion polls are considered to have chances (Traian Basescu – backed by the Democrat Liberals, Mircea Geoana – the Social-Democrat leader, Crin Antonescu – president of the National Liberal Party and Sorin Oprescu – independent candidate and the current Mayor of Bucharest).

A month-long electoral campaign preceded the poll, which takes place amid serious political and economic turmoil: the political parties of the leading candidates have been deadlocked over the formation of a new government, further reform and measures aimed at tackling the economic crisis. Only three candidates are given real chances to get into a second round of elections.

The poll takes place simultaneously with a referendum called by President Traian Basescu on a reform of the parliament structures in Romania.

12 candidates are running for presidency, with only two due to face each other in a second round of elections in early December. Of the 12, only four claimed the bulk of public attention during the campaign and only three are seen as main contenders.

The electoral campaign focused largely on attacks against incumbent President Traian Basescu, who runs for a renewed term in office, and on Basescu's all-means, offensive resistance against these attacks. While the referendum was a secondary issue for most of the overall campaign but a central piece of Basescu's strategy, the campaign was marked by collateral debates on issues such as the control of media groups or a secret visit by one candidate to Moscow earlier this year.

As little focus was paid to political platforms, many voters across Romania are expected to vote for the candidate each sees as "less worse" than others. Recent elections in Romania, including parliamentary elections a year ago and European Parliament elections in June this year, have been marked by voter apathy.

In the referendum, voters will be asked whether they agree with a one-chamber Parliament (Romania's Parliament is now formed of two chambers - the Senate and the House of Deputies) and with a reduction of the number of MPs.

The latest opinion polls show that President Traian Basescu and Mircea Geoana will enter the run-offs. The same opinion polls show that Traian Basescu would be defeated in the run-offs by any of the other counter-candidates. That is why Sunday’s elections will in fact count for entering the run-offs and for the final fight with the current Head of State that seeks to win a second term.

The odds of Romanian president Traian Basescu securing a new term later this year are slim if the ballot goes to a second round, according to a poll by CCSB. 31 per cent of respondents would vote for Basescu in the November ballot, down three points since September.

Mircea Geoana of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) is second with 20 per cent, followed by Crin Antonescu of the National Liberal Party (PNL) with 18 per cent, Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu with 14 per cent, Corneliu Vadim Tudor of the Party of Great Romania (PRM) with eight per cent, George Becali of the New Generation - Christian Democrat Party (PNG-CD) with six per cent, and Kelemen Hunor of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) with two per cent.

In three prospective run-off scenarios, Basescu trails Antonescu, Geoana and Oprescu.

Basescu won the presidential run-off in December 2004 as the candidate of the Alliance for Justice and Truth (DA)—comprising the Democratic Party (PD) and the PNL—with 51.23 per cent of the vote.

Romania held a legislative election in November 2008. Final results gave the coalition of the PSD and the Conservative Party (PC) 33.09 per cent of the vote and 114 seats in the lower house, followed by the Democratic Liberal Party (PD-L) with 32.36 per cent and 115 mandates. Basescu nominated PD-L leader Emil Boc to take over as prime minister from Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

Boc, a Basescu ally, said that the election will be the real test to see what political force prevails, declaring, "We have lost a battle, yet not the war."

On Oct. 13, the Romanian government collapsed following a defeat in a confidence vote. Opposition parties rejected Boc’s government for proposing pension reforms aimed at securing funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Romanians are called to elect a president on Nov. 22. If no candidate garners more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, a run-off between the top two vote-getters must take place within 14 days.

UPDATE 1: Some 6,17% of Romanian voters cast their ballots in presidential elections by 10 a.m. on Sunday, while 5.75% voted in the referendum for a single-chamber parliament, according to the Central Electoral Office.Turnout in the presidential elections stood at 5.65% in urban areas and at 6.88% in rural areas. The county of Teleorman had the highest turnout (9.27%) and the county of Covasna - the lowest (4.10%).Turnout in the referendum was highest in the county of Giurgiu (8.55%) and lowest in Covasna (3.91%).

UPDATE 2:Police spokesperson in the Romanian capital, Commissary Cristian Ciocan, has announced that 103 complaints about violations of the election process were submitted in Romania by 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. In five of the cases fines of RON 11,000 were imposed, Mediafax agency reports.60 violations were registered in cities and 43 – in villages.

UPDATE 3: Over 56,000 Administration and Interior Ministry (MAI) staff will watch over the presidential elections, due on Sunday, caretaker Minister Vasile Blaga told a news conference.According to him, out of the 56,712 MAI staff to be involved in the elections, on Nov 22, as many as 28,847 are national police employees, 11,675 are gendarmes, 3,804 are border police staff, 6,000 are employees with the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, 605 belong to other MAI structures and 1,490 come from the Ministry's educational units.Likewise, Blaga said, 4,292 community police people are hired for surveillance, 33,792 MAI workers are to guard the polling stations, 14,116 are to ensure the public order and 4,512 belong to the public order reserve staff. Also participating in the public order maintenance are 5,840 students of the MAI education institutions.Minister Blaga added that, at the central body level, it was set up a reserve numbering 500 employees who are to supplement the posts in Bucharest and Ilfov County, part of them will also attend control, support and guidance actions by the MAI structures throughout Romania.

UPDATE 4: Nearly 13,740 eligible to vote Romanians have cast a vote in the polling stations opened abroad by Sunday at noon, the Foreign Ministry said in a release to Agerpres.The highest turnout was in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, namely in the four polling stations in the capital Chisinau, the ministry added.Voting ended in New Zealand at 12 p.m., in Auckland-based polling station, where the Romanians living outside the country had been the first to cast a ballot. Voting also ended at midday in the three polling stations set up in Australia, where around 400 Romanian citizens cast a ballot.The number of the Romanians based abroad who have exercised their voting right is much higher compared to the previous elections for European Parliament held in this June, when just 1,700 persons had cast a ballot by noon.The presidential voting had begun for five hours by 12 p.m. in Romania and in another 47 polling stations outside the country.

UPDATE 5: 20.96% Romanian voters cast their ballots in presidential elections by 1 p.m. on Sunday, the Central Electoral Office has announced. Turnout in the referendum for a single-chamber parliament stood at 19.62% at 1 p.m..

Turnout in presidential elections:

• 20.96% at national level
• 20.12% in urban areas
• 22.10% in rural areas
• highest turnout: Teleorman county - 27.63%
• lowest turnout - 15.03%
• turnout in Bucharest - 19.71%

Turnout in the referendum:

• 19.62% at national level
• 18.83% in urban areas
• 20.71% in rural areas
• 18.29% in Bucharest

In the first round of the 2004 presidential elections, 27.18% had showed up and voted by 2 p.m.

By 1 p.m. on Sunday, some 170,389 people voted in special voting sections at national level, with the highest numbers reported in the counties of Ilfov near Bucharest (8,965), Olt, Dolj, Teleorman and Prahova.

A record turnout was reported in the Republic of Moldova, where the Embasy of Romania may call for an extension of the closing deadline. Hundreds of people were waiting before the Embassy HQ on Sunday, with a similar situation at the two Romanian consulates. By 1 p.m., 2,580 voters had cast their ballots in the Republic of Moldova, where sections are open in the cities of Chisinau (4 sections), Cahul, Balti, Ungheni, Nisporeni, orhei, Soroca, Causeni, Anenii Noi and Giurgiulesti.

UPDATE 6: 36.19% of Romanian voters showed up and cast their ballots in presidential elections by 4 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Central Electoral Office. 33.86% also voted in a referendum called for a reform of Parliament structures.

Turnout in presidential elections by 4 p.m.:

•33.69% in urban areas
•39.62% in rural areas
•top voting counties: Teleorman (44.12%), Mehedinti, Dambovita, Ilfov, Botosani
•bottom turnout counties: Covasna (26.66%), Harghita, Satu Mare, Caras Severin, Timis
•turnout in Bucharest: 32.42%

The Romanian Foreign Ministry also announced that by 2 p.m. some 27,500 people voted abroad. While voting concluded in Australia and New Zealand earlier during the day, at 4 p.m. Romanian time voting had started all across the US.

UPDATE 7:The spokesman for presidential candidate Traian Basescu, Sever Voinescu, said on Sunday afternoon that the Social Democrats (PSD) was trying to compromise the electoral process by "obsessively supporting the idea that the election process is subject of fraud". He accused the PSD of engaging a "propaganda machine" to compromise the electoral process with such allegations.Voinescu, as quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax, claimed "intentionally wrong results" of certain exit polls would be used to support the idea. And he said the election fraud has been a campaign theme for the PSD.PSD is represented in the presidential elections by party leader Mircea Geoana.

UPDATE 8: 53.52% of Romanian voters showed up in presidential elections on Sunday, according to preliminary data for closing polls hour - 9 p.m. - provided by the Central Electroal Office. According to the data, 50.16% of voters cast their ballots in the referendum called by President Basescu to reform the Parliament, which means the referendum has been validated unless the final figure for 9 p.m. changes downwards.
A CURS-TVR exit poll showed that of the total number of people who voted in the referendum, 87.43% voted in favor of a lower number of MPs and 77.4% voted for a single-chamber parliament.

UPDATE 9:Incumbent President Traian Basescu is the winner of the first round of Romania's presidential elections on Sunday, according to all four exit polls ordered by TV stations, with differences of at least 2 points and at most 3.2 points to the second placed, Mircea Geoana. All four exit polls place Liberal candidate Crin Antonescu third. Basescu and Social Democratic candidate Geoana go into second round.