Johannis Wins Romania Presidency in Double-Digit Comeback
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Romanian Liberal Party leader and ethnic German mayor Klaus Johannis erased a 10-percentage point deficit to unexpectedly beat Prime Minister Victor Ponta in the Black Sea nation’s second-round presidential election.
Ponta conceded defeat in a televised speech from Bucharest in which he congratulated Johannis even as exit polls showed the race too close to call. He lost his lead from two weeks ago, when he won the election’s first round with 40.4% of the votes compared with 30.4% for Johannis. Ponta said he wouldn’t resign from the prime minister’s post.