Romania will have a new parliament and cabinet after general elections this Sunday (30 November). But the country's challenges will remain the same, with fighting corruption and reforming the judiciary at the top of the list. EurActiv Romania reports.

A return to power by the Social Democrats (PSD) is possible, according to some polls, while a coalition with the National Liberal party (PNL) of current Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu also appears plausible.

Support for the PSD rose to 35%, overtaking that of the President Traian Basescu's Liberal Democrats (PDL), which garnered 32%. The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) should get at least 5% of the vote, enough to pass the threshold to be represented in Parliament.

Mircea Geoana, a former foreign minister who now leads the Social Democratic party, recently said he would be willing to negotiate with any party to form a majority coalition and return to power.

For the first time, Romanian general elections will be fought under the principle of absolute majority. There will be no run-off. Also for the first time, parliamentary and presidential elections will not coincide with one another, since recent changes to the constitution increased the length of the president's mandate from four to five years.

Political anayst Cristian Parvulescu said that with the PSD back in power, the next government would not block judicial reform. However, he believes that an improvement in the present situation, characterised by a lack of effective sentences against top officials, is not to be expected.

Alina Mungui-Pippidi, president of the Romanian Academic Society, a think-tank, says that only a clear victory by Basescu's PDL would guarantee the climate needed to strengthen the rule of law. But without a clear victory, she foresees prolonged legal battles, which would "destroy everything built by [prosecutor] Monica Macovei," while "attempts to remove those prosecutors which dear to aim at the higher level would intensify".

Monica Macovei is a highly-respected figure in Brussels for persistently pursuing judicial reform and fighting corruption. But she was removed from the position of justice minister in 2007 (EurActiv 03/04/07).

More recently, there have been attempts to remove the head of the national anti-corruption directorate Daniel Morar from office (EurActiv 21/08/08). Morar has indicted several top officials, including former prime minister and former PSD leader Adrian Nastase.