Romanian Far-Right Party Backs Social-Democrat Vote Winner

A small far-right party in Romania has thrown its weight behind Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who on the weekend won the first round in elections to become president, a ruling coalition leader said Tuesday.

UNPR, a member of Ponta's leftist coalition, signed a cooperation agreement with the far-right Romania Mare (PRM), a party official said.

"These two formations, which share the same values, are committed to supporting Mr Ponta's candidacy" in the run-off vote set for November 16, UNPR's Neculai Ontanu told a news conference.

PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor confirmed the agreement, adding that he would "never vote for a man belonging to another ethnic group," referring to Ponta's second-round rival Klaus Iohannis of Romania's German minority.

Tudor, known for xenophobic and racist statements, referred to Iohannis's campaign posters as a "third German occupation" of Bucharest.

His PRM party, which has no seats in parliament, received less than four percent of the vote in the first round on Sunday, while Ponta, 42, won 40 percent, and Iohannis got 30 percent, the election bureau announced.

Another 11 candidates stood in the first round.

Iohannis, 55, mayor of the central city of Sibiu, has declined to negotiate with the also-rans but said he wanted to draw the votes of "all Romanians who think I can make a difference in Romanian politics".

The elections come against the backdrop of rampant corruption and fears that Ponta could reverse crucial reforms in the former Soviet satellite, one of Europe's poorest countries.