New Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, whose anti-graft platform propelled him to the top job, on Sunday urged politicians to stamp out entrenched corruption in one of Europe's poorest countries. "There is no other path for Romania" other than becoming a nation "rid of all corruption," Iohannis told parliament after officially assuming his duties. This must "be understood clearly at every level of the political class," said the 55-year-old, Romania's first president from the German minority.
The former mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu said he wanted a graft-free country when his term ends in five years. The centre-right politician made waves in mid-November by winning the presidential election against the frontrunner, Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Observers said Iohannis's anti-graft plank won over voters in a country sick of government corruption, with several senior figures in Ponta's formerly communist Social Democrats accused of financial wrongdoing.
He also benefited from a record voter turnout - polls put it over 62 percent - which experts had earlier said would disproportionally bring out Iohannis's supporters. Tempestuous relations between Ponta and previous president Traian Basescu - who was ineligible to run again after serving two consecutive terms - paralysed all reform efforts in the former communist country of 20 million people for the past two years.
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