Incumbent president tops 1st round of Romania vote

By Radu Marinas and Justyna Pawlak

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Incumbent Traian Basescu on Sunday won the first round of Romania's presidential election, exit polls showed, but the slim margin gave few clues as to who would form the next government to resolve the economic crisis.

The president has little impact on day to day running of the country but nominates the next prime minister, who will have to form a coalition cabinet after the previous government's collapse in October, delaying much-needed IMF aid.

Basescu, 58, will face leftist leader Mircea Geoana, 51, in a December 6 runoff in the Balkan nation.

Exit polls by pollsters INSOMAR and CURS showed Basescu garnering 33-34 percent of the vote with Geoana closely behind with 31-32 percent. Under Romanian law, a second round is needed if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes.

Sunday's vote had been a key obstacle to political stability in recent months, with Basescu's Democrat-Liberal Party and Geoana's Social Democrats unwilling to work together to end the impasse, putting on hold a 20 billion euro IMF aid package and damaging investor confidence.

The new government's main tasks will be to win back the trust of international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, by introducing painful budget cuts to bring the economy out of recession.

"What matters at the moment for markets is to have a president and a government as soon as possible and the IMF deal back on track," said Nicolaie Alexandru-Chidesciuc from ING Bank in Bucharest.

Broad reforms are vital. Twenty years after the end of communist rule the country of 22 million is one of the poorest and most graft-prone corners of the European Union.