Romania PM ready for independent bid for president

BUCHAREST, Romania (Reuters) -- Romanian Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu ended weeks of speculation on Wednesday by declaring he would run as an independent in forthcoming presidential elections, backed by a group of top professionals and academics.

The technocrat premier acknowledged civic rights campaigners and communist-era dissidents who formed the "Isarescu For President Support Group" and has started gathering the 300,000 signatures required to support his bid in the elections.

"As soon as this support group, which represents a significant part of our civic society, gathers the signatures required by law, I will officially announce my candidacy for the presidency and my campaign programme," Isarescu said in a letter released by his support group.

Nicolae Manolescu, a leading academic and civic rights campaigner who heads the group, said he had secured Isarescu's agreement to run as an independent to pursue his programme of integration into the European Union.

Centrists in the four-party governing coalition had courted Isarescu in the hope of boosting their sagging electoral fortunes, dented by nearly four years of political rows and growing economic hardship.

But Isarescu, a former central bank chief who earned a solid reputation as a negotiator with international institutions, has said he will only run as an independent in a field dominated by former President Ion Iliescu, a veteran ex-communist.

"Isarescu is competent and able to solve the difficult issues posed by Romania's transition towards a free-market, democratic system," Manolescu told Reuters. "He is one of the few prominent Romanians who can make themselves heard in the West."

Wednesday's announcement also brought relief to the co-ruling Christian Democrats, whose electoral hopes were dealt a severe blow last month when President Emil Constantinescu announced he would not run for a second term in November.

"Iliescu can only be defeated by an independent," Christian Democrat leader Ion Diaconescu said.

A date for the elections has yet to be set. The Christian Democrats have suggested that the polls, which coincide with parliamentary elections, should be held on November 19. To become effective, the proposal must be endorsed by Isarescu.

Isarescu has pledged to tame inflation and keep the economy on a recovery course this year, after three straight years of decline, and to pursue the medium-term reform programme he cleared with the European Union in March, when Romania started accession talks with the 15-nation bloc.

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