Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2009. The first round took place on 22 November, with a
run-off round between the top two candidates
Traian Băsescu
Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 a ...
and
Mircea Geoană on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls suggested a win for Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33% of the votes.
To date, it is the closest election in Romanian history.
The opposition contested the results, citing a "high number of void ballots, modified voting protocols, and massive electoral tourism", vowing to challenge the result in the
constitutional court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
.
The
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
(OSCE) declared that the election "was held generally in line with OSCE commitments", but also urged the authorities to investigate claims of fraud. On 8 December, the Social Democratic Party submitted a request to annul and repeat the run-off to the Constitutional Court, claiming it had been rigged.
On 14 December, the Constitutional Court rejected the request after recounting all the annulled votes.
A
referendum was held alongside the first round of voting on introducing a
unicameral parliament of up to 300 deputies (replacing the existing
bicameral parliament) and reducing the number of MPs to 300 but retaining the bicameral structure.
Candidates
There were twelve candidates o