ROMANIA: Romanians choose between a suave ex-communist and a corruption-busting former ship's captain tomorrow, in a presidential election to find who will lead the country into the European Union in 2007.
Mr Adrian Nastase, the well-groomed prime minister who heads the ruling Social Democrats (PSD), has urged Romanians to vote for his experience over the untested team of Mr Traian Basescu, the mayor of Bucharest who is backed by the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance (DA).
Mr Basescu (53) accused the PSD of rigging the first round of voting a fortnight ago, which saw it narrowly beat his allies in parliamentary elections and left Mr Nastase with a small advantage over him before the second round of the presidential poll.
He has rallied supporters with a straight-talking pledge to end endemic corruption in Romania as it implements tough reforms ahead of EU entry, but is still just behind the slick Mr Nastase (54) in opinion polls.
"If I win, I promise you that I will crush the mafia and the corrupt system that has stolen trillions of lei to fill politicians' pockets and worsened poverty," Mr Basescu said as campaigning ended.
His DA party also alleged that the EU had ended talks too early with Bucharest over the terms of its EU accession, and that Mr Nastase had failed to properly represent Romania's interests.
"Objectively, Romania cannot fulfil the conditions laid down by the EU to close negotiations," the DA said after talks ended last Wednesday.
The deal allows Brussels to postpone Romania's accession for a year if it fails to adequately tackle corruption, slash state subsidies to ailing industry, introduce proper competition law or bolster border controls with neighbouring Moldova and Ukraine.
"The fact that the EU has imposed a stricter safeguard clause for Romania than Bulgaria, proves that the Nastase government negotiated badly and that the process of European integration has been compromised," the DA argued.
Mr Nastase, for his part, is confident voters will trust the team that guided Romania into NATO and to the threshold of the EU.
He also enjoys the blessing of the outgoing president, Mr Ion Iliescu, who has been the dominant figure in Romanian politics since the execution of Nicolai Ceaucescu 15 years ago.
"I tell voters to vote for Romania's European destiny. For a Romania without poverty and without corruption," Mr Nastase said in his final campaign statement.
He enjoys huge support in conservative, rural areas, where his PSD party and their most influential supporters - the Romanian Orthodox Church - are the dominant institutions.