Preview ahead of Sunday's presidential elections

(10 Dec 2004) 1. Worker welding in front of huge campaign poster 2. Various of campaign posters for Romanian Prime Minister and Presidential candidate Adrian Nastase 3. Sheep and shepherds on mountainside 4. Poster of Nastase 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Nastase, Romanian Prime Minister and Presidential Candidate: "It is the first time in Eastern Europe that the party in power wins for the second time the elections. I think this is quite remarkable. The charges against the procedures have been considered by all the parties in Romania and electoral authorities as being unfounded - and I am glad that those who wanted to create a parallel in between Romania and Ukraine did not succeed." 6. Zoom out from poster for opposition candidate Traian Basescu to poster for Adrian Nastase 7. Horse and cart passing by 8. Various of campaign posters with another candidate Adrian Basescu 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Traian Basescu, Opposition Presidential Candidate: "This is the last chance for Romanian democracy. If Social Democrats will not understand that democracy is dependent by the way of elections on next Sunday probably the Romanian integration (in to European Union) will be under a big question mark. Social democrat Party and Adrian Nastase must understand that they done lots of frauds in economy during 2000 and 2004, but the decision of Romanian people can not be frauded in the election process." 10. Bucharest street 11. People looking at the pastry shop window 12. Interior of pastry shop where the owner is trying to encourage people to vote (sign saying: 10 % discount for those who vote on Sunday) 13. Various of newspapers 14. People buying newspapers 15. Various of people saying the name of their preferred candidate 16. Street scene STORYLINE: Romanians go to the polls this weekend to vote in the second round of presidential elections - a vote that follows a first round of balloting considered flawed by opposition supporters and an international rights watchdog. Supporters of opposition candidate Traian Basescu say they were cheated out of at least five percent of the vote, accusing the ruling party of busing its supporters around to vote multiple times. Basescu, the mayor of Bucharest, faces Prime Minister Adrian Nastase in Sunday's runoff. In the first round of voting November 28, Nastase won about 41 percent of ballots, while Basescu won about 34 percent. On Thursday, the Vienna-based International Helsinki Committee said the elections were marred by "grave irregularities." Based on information from nine non-governmental organizations in Romania, the committee issued a statement calling the elections "flawed" and saying results did not "reflect the true democratic will of the citizens of Romania." This week Romanian election authorities adopted new rules intended to crack down on multiple voting. Romania's new president will lead the Balkan country at a time of economic and judicial reforms aimed at gaining membership in the European Union. The current president, Ion Iliescu, is stepping down after leading Romania for 11 of the 15 years since the communist dictatorship was overthrown. Both Nastase and Basescu promise to lead the east European country out of poverty. They also will likely maintain their support for U.S.-led efforts in Iraq, where Romania has sent about 700 troops. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...