Romania recently completed its presidential election. The first round took place on November 10. The second round, a run-off between the top two candidates from the first round, happened on November 24.

Voting has been completed. The result is a lopsided victory for one candidate.

Iohannis wins re-election

Incumbent President Klaus Iohannis has won re-election in a dominant performance. Euronews reports he has taken 64-67 percent of votes cast. That puts his opponent's vote tally at 33-36 percent.

Iohannis was mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu for nearly 15 years.

Prior to becoming the Romanian president in 2014, he was the leader of the National Liberal Party. Although the name might indicate otherwise, the party is actually generally moderate-to-conservative in ideology. As is typical in Romania, political party memberships of presidents are temporarily suspended, making them Independents.

His challenger in the run-off was former Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. Dancila is the president of the Social Democratic Party in Romania and a former member of the European Parliament.

Several other candidates were eliminated after the first round of voting. Dan Burna was the top finisher that didn't qualify for the run-off. Burna is president of the political party Save Romania Union.

The next two candidates were both Independents. One was Mircea Diaconu, who made his name as a film and stage actor. He is also a former member of the European Parliament and of the National Liberal Party. The other was Theodor Paleologu, a former member of multiple parties. Paleologu was the minister of culture, religious affairs and cultural heritage under Prime Minister Emil Bloc.

Paleologu's successor also happened to be the sixth-place finisher in the first round. Hunor Kelemen is a member of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. He has been a Cabinet member under three different prime ministers.

Anti-corruption and judicial reforms were points of emphasis

As indicated by Reuters, judicial reform was a key campaign platform for Iohannis.

Iohannis has been hailed by the international community for his efforts to stomp out political corruption in Romania. With his win, Iohannis is expected to appoint credible prosecutors to take on the mafia and others.

Conversely, Dancila's Social Democratic Party had made several controversial policy moves that weakened anti-corruption laws. The actions were soundly criticized by the European Union.

Appointing prosecutors is one of the primary duties of a Romanian president. Others include nominating a prime minister. Other major issues of Iohannis' first term include migration and the subject of unification between Romania and Moldova.
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