Polls open in Romanian local elections

Polling stations opened across Romania Sunday for local elections that are not expected by analysts to bring drastic changes in the political landscape of one of the poorest countries in Europe. More than 18.3 million eligible Romanian voters and 37,000 European citizens living in Romania can cast their ballots until 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) with first official results expected Monday morning. At stake are more than 40,000 council posts and mayoral position in 3,187 cities and towns as well as 41 county presidencies. The elections come just over a month after the centre-right government fell to a no-confidence motion filed by the Social Liberal Union (USL), the centre-left coalition that is now in power. But analysts do not expect major changes at the local level due to the voting system. "Changes will be minimal because of the simple-majority voting system in one round. This plays clearly in favour of the incumbents", Sorin Ionita, a political analyst for the Expert Forum think tank told AFP. However, the battle will be watched closely in the Transylvanian city of Cluj (northwest) where former Prime minister Emil Boc is running against the USL Marius Nicoara. Boc, who was mayor of Cluj in the past, led the centre-right governement that imposed drastic austerity measures --wages in the public were cut by 25 percent in 2010-- in order to help the country out of recession. In Bucharest, the campaign has focussed on who can best defend the city's rich architectural heritage from developers and reduce traffic pollution. The incumbent mayor Sorin Oprescu is expected to comfortably retain his mandate. But Nicusor Dan, a mathematician who has been at the heart of the battle for the city's heritage, created a buzz by running and has rallied the support of dozens of prominent Romanian figures, including architects and writers. EU member Romania emerged from two years of recession in 2011 after an austerity package agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU, but its economy has been slowing again this year.