More than 18 million voters are expected to go to the polls on Sunday to elect their president for the next five years from among the 11 candidates in the race for the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

As many as 18.979 polling stations are organized in the country, according to the Permanent Electoral Authority. In the capital 1,289 polling stations will be open. Romanians with the right to vote in the diaspora will vote in 965 polling stations.

Romanian citizens who turn 18 years old until and including election day are entitled to vote. The mentally deficient or alienated persons, laid under interdiction, as well as persons sentenced to the loss of electoral rights by a final court decision are not entitled to vote.

Voters vote with a valid identity document issued by the Romanian state, namely: identity card; electronic identity card; provisional identity card; diplomatic passport; diplomatic electronic passport; service passport; electronic service passport; military service card (in the case of students in military schools).

The simple passport, the simple electronic passport and the simple temporary passport can be used for exercising the right to vote only by Romanian citizens voting abroad or by Romanian citizens residing abroad and voting in Romania.

In the country, voting takes place on Sunday, between 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.. Voters who are at the polling station at 9:00 p.m., as well as those who are in line outside the polling station to enter the polling station, can exercise their right to vote until 11:59 p.m. at the latest.

The 11 candidates vying for the seat are, according to the order on the ballot paper:

* position 1 – George Nicolae Simion (Alliance for the Union of Romanians)

* position 2 – George Crin Laurentiu Antonescu (Electoral Alliance „Romania, Forward!”)

* position 3 – Elena Valerica Lasconi (Save Romania Union)

* position 4 – Cristian Vasile Terhes (Romanian National Conservative Party)

* position 5 – Marcela Lavinia Sandru (Humanist Social Liberal Party)

* position 6 – Victor Viorel Ponta (independent candidate)

* position 7 – Sebastian Constantin Popescu (New Romania Party)

* position 8 – Silviu Predoiu (National Action League Party)

* position 9 – John-Ion Banu-Muscel (independent candidate)

* position 10 – Petru Daniel Funeriu (independent candidate)

* position 11 – Nicusor-Daniel Dan (independent candidate).

Five candidates – Elena Lasconi, George Simion, Cristian Terhes, Silviu Predoiu and Sebastian-Constantin Popescu – entered the electoral race in last year’s presidential elections, the head of USR managing to reach the second round with the independent Calin Georgescu, elections that were annulled by the Constitutional Court. AGERPRES