What the newspapers say: June 4, 2008

All newspapers on Wednesday read about the possible final outcome of this year’s local elections and their immediate consequences. One newspaper reads how one vote changed the electoral outcome in several towns in the country. Elsewhere in the news, Romanian President Traian Basescu’s attack against Social Democrats is meant to hit independent Sorin Oprescu. In a lighter tone, Greek manager on Zakynthos Island was named Mr President due to his striking resemblance with Romania’s president, Traian Basescu.

This year’s local elections which took place on Sunday proved once again how important each vote is, Evenimentul Zilei reads. The newspaper points out that in several towns in the country one vote made the difference. In Gioseni, Bacau county, Democrat liberal Anton Jitaru lost in front of his Liberal counter candidate Bernadin Tamas by one vote.

Jitaru admits that his family did not vote for him because their ID cards are not transferred in Gioseni: he lost thus 4 important votes that would have changed the outcome. His daughter, Ramona Jitaru declared for the newspaper that it was his father who found the extra voting bulletin which made the difference against him.

Same story in Sighisoara central Romania: incumbent mayor Ioan Dorin Danesan (Social Democratic member) failed to secure his third mandate from the first round due to one vote missing. Initially, he needed another 6 votes to win and, after a recount of the votes, his missing votes dropped by 5.

Other surprising story in Iasi county, North Romania: in Cotnari, in the second election round run three candidates because two of them gained the same number of votes. The same is true for Icusesti, Neamt. Local authorities in Neamt wait for instructions from the Central Electoral Office in Bucharest since the electoral law does not take into account such events.

More in the news, Romania’s President Traian Basescu attacked former PSD President Ion Iliescu of pressuring and supporting independent Sorin Oprescu to run against Democrat Liberal Blaga for Bucharest mayor, Gandul reads.

In a talk show, President Basescu did not miss the opportunity to campaign for Blaga. He declared that even though he is disappointed that he did not win from the first round, he considers Blaga the best solution for Bucharest.

Moreover, he said that he is very satisfied of PD-L head Emil Boc who won his second mandate for Cluj City Hall in the first round of elections. Basescu emphasized that newspapers talk about County Council presidents as local tycoons, which is not correct. He defended them and argued that even if they have a dark past, their deeds talk louder that their convictions.

In a lighter tone, Romania Libera reads about a Greek hotel manager on the Zakynthos Island who resembles Romania’s president Traian Basescu a lot. The newspaper said that hundreds of Romanian tourists took his picture and were impressed by their resemblance.

The manager declared that he started to feel as a president.