2014 Romanian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2014. They were the seventh presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. In the first round of the elections on 2 November, the top two of the fourteen candidates qualified in a run-off on 16 November. These candidates were Victor Ponta, former Prime Minister and ex-leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who won around 40% of the vote in the first round, and Klaus Iohannis, then mayor of Sibiu and leader of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL), who won around 30% in the first round respectively. Following large protests on how Ponta's government organized the elections in the diaspora, Klaus Iohannis staged a surprising come-back and won the run-off with 54.5%, or more than a million votes than his contender.
Image: Klaus Iohannis din interviul cu Dan Tapalagă cropped
Image: Victor Ponta debate November 2014
First round of the presidential election at the Romanian General Consulate in Munich. A large gathering of people waiting in line, before the ballots closed.
The candidature of Victor Ponta was validated during the Extraordinary Congress of the PSD in Alba Iulia, on 12 September.
Victor Viorel Ponta is a Romanian jurist and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015. A former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and its leader from 2010 to 2015, he was also joint leader (2012–2014) of the then-governing Social Liberal Union (USL), an alliance with the National Liberal Party (PNL). Ponta was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County from 2004 to 2020. In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister-Delegate for Relations with Parliament from 2008 to 2009.
Ponta in 2014
Ponta at an annual meeting of the PSD, which he led from 2010 to 2015
Ponta with PNL chief Crin Antonescu while the duo headed the Social Liberal Union (USL)
Ponta meeting with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso