BUCHAREST, Romania — Bolstered by what appeared to be astrong showing in local elections, Romania's governing coalitionpromised on Monday to raise the salaries of some public employeesto help ease the pain of austerity measures the country imposed towin its IMF loan. The Central Elections Bureau said that with about 40 percent of thevotes counted from Sunday's election, the left-leaning governmentof Prime Minister Victor Ponta won 47.2 percent of council seatsand town halls. The center-right Democratic Liberal Party, whichlost control of Romania's government in a no-confidence vote inApril, was a distant second with 14.5 percent. If those percentages hold, the local elections would put Ponta'scoalition in a strong position for this fall's parliamentary vote. Sunday's vote appeared to be another indication of widespreaddissatisfaction with austerity measures that led to theno-confidence vote, and a perception that the country's leaders canbe corrupt and arrogant. Ponta's government says it respects the terms of a (EURO)20 billion($25 billion) International Monetary Fund-led loan, but it also haspromised, without providing details, to raise salaries for publicemployees such as police and Interior Ministry workers this year,which were slashed by 25 percent by the previous government in2010. About 1.25 million people are state employees in therelatively poor country of Romania. Ponta said he would address Parliament on Tuesday in a speech thatis expected to begin his coalition's platform for the parliamentaryelection, including issues such as European Union funding and plansfor Romania to enter the EU's visa-free Schengen travel zone. President Traian Basescu, who supported Romania's previousgovernment, said it had no choice but to impose austerity measuresduring an economic crisis. `'Nobody wanted to cut salaries ... butlook at the other countries like Spain and Greece," he said. In Sunday's election, the Democratic Liberal Party scored oneimportant victory in the major city of Cluj, where former PrimeMinister Emil Boc managed a narrow victory, officials said.Elsewhere, the governing coalition was taking many major cities,including the capital, Bucharest, where the former government lostall its district mayors. The former center-right government, which had taken power inRomania in 2008, was forced to step down after it enacted measuresto cut government spending in return for receiving the IMF loan in2009. The next year, the government slashed salaries in the publicsector by one-fourth and introduced a sales tax of 24 percent, oneof the highest in Europe. These steps led thousands of Romanians tohold anti-government demonstrations during bitter winter weather inJanuary and in February, leading to the collapse of Boc'sgovernment. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Custom Ski Goggles , Military Glasses Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Interchangeable Lenses Sunglasses.
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