Romanians electing new Parliament

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanians voted Sunday in a legislative election that many hope will restore some stability in one of the poorest European Union nations after five years of political and social turmoil.

More than 18 million Romanians are registered to vote for a new national Parliament, but turnout was expected to be low because of voters’ fears about becoming infected with the coronavirus.

According to most preelection polls, the center-right National Liberal Party is forecast to become the nominal winner of the election.

A victory for the National Liberal Party would make it the largest party in the country’s 465-seat bicameral Parliament for the first time in its nearly three-decade history. Still, it would fall short of a governing majority. Analysts predict the party will seek to create a governing coalition with the progressive USR-Plus alliance.

Both campaigned on promises to depoliticize and fully overhaul Romania’s civil service system, safeguard the independence of its judiciary, impose fiscal discipline and prop up the collapsing public health care and education systems.

But they appear to have somewhat divergent views on how best to get rid of the welfare state model and inefficient bureaucracy, blamed by both on decades of political supremacy in Romania of the left-leaning, populist Social Democrat Party, which has dominated Romania’s politics since 1989.