Even split in first round of elections

The second round of the Romanian presidential elections will be a “battle royal”, says România Libera the day after the first round on 20 November. The arbiter of the duel between incumbent Liberal Democrat Traian Basescu (32% of the vote) and Social Democrat challenger Mircea Geoana (31%), between "Romania of the future and that of the [communist] past”, the Bucharest daily opines, will be the liberal Crin Antonescu, who came in third. România Libera fears, however, that "a goodly number of officials, generals and police” who did not relish Basescu’s crackdown on corruption are going to try to tilt the balance in Geoana’s favour in the course of a “final battle” – so they “can then retire in peace”. The daily also notes that over 80% of the electorate voted in favour of abolishing the second house of Parliament in a referendum held the same day.