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Elections in Romania

Romanian voters appeared Monday to have handed center-right President Traian Basescu a second term by a thin margin, but the opposition was quick to allege improprieties and contest the outcome.

With 99.95% of the vote counted, election authorities said Mr. Basescu won 50.33% of the vote, while opposition Socialist Democratic Party leader Mircea Geoana, a former Romanian ambassador to Washington, received 49.66%.The Romanians living abroad had decisively turned the elections in favor of Mr. Basescu  The narrow margin of victory was   followed a bitter campaign and raised questions over whether the president will have a strong enough parliamentary mandate to push through tough reforms necessary for the European Union’s newest member.

A new president’s most pressing task will be to nominate a prime minister to form a government the caretaker administration in place since opposition parties toppled a coalition cabinet in October, leaving a political vacuum.

Mr. Basescu, a plain-speaking former ship captain, may struggle to find the 48 seats he needs from other major parties to form a parliamentary majority. The president has repeatedly clashed with opposition lawmakers over anticorruption measures during his five-year term.

Initial exit polls broadcast Sunday pointed to an opposition victory, but late votes from Romanians abroad overwhelmingly backed the president. Mr. Basescu insisted Monday he was the winner, telling his supporters: “I assure you that the correct polls show that I have beaten Mircea Geoana.”

The Socialist Democratic Party said Monday they would contest the result, with an official spokesman alleging that the Basescu campaign had committed widespread irregularities. “The elections were a fraud,” Social Democratic Party spokesman Livi Dragnea told reporters, adding that the party wouldn’t accept official results.

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