Romanians will decide on Sunday whether they want to keep their president in office for another five years or replace him with a former prime minister.  

The presidential election comes amid the European Union's concern over what it says is the country's backsliding in the fight against corruption and reform of the justice system.  

Romania's centrist President Klaus Iohannis, who is seen by the West as an anti-graft supporter, won the first round of presidential elections on 10 November, with 37.8 percent of the vote, according to the electoral bureau. 

Opposition Social Democrat leader and former prime minister Viorica Dancila came second, with 22.2 percent. 

A runoff is held because no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.  

What is the president's role in Romania?  

In the country's semi-presidential system, the president is in charge of defense and foreign policy. The role has limited domestic powers, but they can veto laws adopted by parliament by challenging them in the constitutional court or by sending them back to be reconsidered.  

They can reject party nominees for the role of prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. 

The president is the head of state, while the prime minister is the head of government.  

In recent years, the presidential role has been perceived by Romanians as a driving force in tackling state corruption.  

What are voters concerned about? 

The vote takes place just weeks after a minority government was installed, amid an ongoing political crisis. 

Over the past three years, Romania has had four prime ministers and witnessed large anti-corruption protests.  

Rule of law faces serious challenges in Romania, one of the EU's most corrupt members, according to the Council of Europe.  

The fight against corruption remains a key issue for many voters. Tens of thousands of Romanians took part in a wave of protests across the country two years ago against the government's efforts to water down anti-corruption measures.   

The legislation, which was eventually halted amid pressure from protesters, was aimed at making it hard to prosecute high-level corruption, according to critics.

The EU has repeatedly called on Romania not to dilute efforts to fight high-level corruption.  

Further protests erupted over state corruption and efforts to undermine the judiciary. A key moment came in July 2018, when Laura Codruta Kovesi, the head of Romania's anti-corruption agency, was fired.  

She was removed by the then-governing Social Democrats, an act many in Romania believe was political retaliation for her department's successes. 

With then-prime minister Viorica Dancila and others openly advocating against her, Kovesi called her recent appointment as the EU's chief European prosecutor a vote of confidence for all prosecutors and judges in her country.

The judiciary's independence is also high on the public agenda in Romania. In recent years, the country has tackled some of its high-profile corrupt politicians, who were sent to prison.  

In May, arguably the country's most powerful politician, Liviu Dragnea, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for official misconduct in a graft case.  

According to prosecutors, Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep two women employed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency. 

The women admitted working for the party while they received salaries from the public agency. 

Who are the two candidates? 

Klaus Iohannis, 60, the country's incumbent president, is expected to win the race, according to opinion polls. 

He is a former leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), which formed a minority government led by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban at the beginning of this month. 

Iohannis, who is regarded as a pro-Europe leader, wants to continue the fight against corruption, lead a "normal" Romania and guarantee an independent judicial system.  

He pledges to strengthen relations with the EU, NATO and the US and increase the American military presence in Romania, with the Trump administration viewing Romania as "a particularly important ally." 

Iohannis, an ethnic German, was the mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu before winning his first mandate. His victory in 2014 was seen as representative for a young, educated, well-traveled generation. 

During his term, Iohannis, backed by the center-right PNL, clashed with the former left-wing PSD government, which collapsed last month, over its judicial reforms.   

Speaking after the exit-poll results of the first round of votes, Iohannis said: "Never have Romanians voted so clearly and decisively against the PSD (Social Democrats). This is a huge step for Romania, for those who want the rule of law applied here."  

Iohannis has challenged the former ruling party PSD's efforts to overhaul the judiciary and to limit magistrates' independence. 

In May, Iohannis spearheaded a national referendum in which an overwhelming majority of Romanians said they wanted the government to be banned from altering legislation via emergency decrees, and advocated a national ban on granting amnesties and pardons for graft-related crimes. 

The non-binding referendum was supported by 80 percent of voters. It effectively aimed to pressure the government at the time into stopping its efforts to water down anti-corruption measures. 

Viorica Dancila, 55, is the leader of the Social Democratic Party. She was the country's prime minister between January 2018 and October 2019, when her government, beset by corruption scandals, lost a vote of no-confidence in the legislature. 

She was Romania's first female prime minister.  

Dancila was a member of the European Parliament and a relatively unknown figure in domestic politics until she became prime minister. She was picked for the top job by her party colleague Dragnea. 

If she wins the election, Dancila pledges to offer Romanians a decent standard of living and guarantees not to cut salaries and pensions for public sector workers, although such matters are normally dealt with by the government, which has executive powers.   

Her former left-wing government was criticized by the EU over legislation that would have made it hard to prosecute high-level corruption. 

Dancila had voiced support for those proposals, which prompted public protests. 

The legislation would have banned the use of audio and video recordings in prosecutions. Other aspects included holding judges personally responsible for erroneous rulings, and making it possible to seek financial damages from them. 

The two prime ministers before Dancila were ousted because they were perceived as not toeing the ruling Social Democrat party line, and in particular not giving their full support to overhauling the justice system. 

Under a succession of PSD governments in recent years, Romania, an EU member state, has rolled back anti-corruption measures, facing growing criticism from the EU over the rule of law. 

The PSD raised the burden of proof in corruption cases, reorganized panels of judges and set up a special unit to investigate magistrates for potential abuses, a move widely seen as an instrument of political coercion. 

Dancila said she was "happy" with the exit poll results after the first round of voting, adding: "We are present in the second round, I thank those who voted with their hearts." 

The PSD has become increasingly reliant on an ageing, rural electorate and had feared the nightmare scenario of not making it to the second round, which would have been a first since free elections began in Romania in 1989.  

Around 18.2 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday.  

What has been going on in Romania lately?

Romania has changed dramatically in the 30 years since 1989. It joined The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 2004 and the EU in 2007.  

But the country has been struggling to contain its state budget deficit, which is projected to reach 4.4 percent of GDP next year, well above the EU limit of 3 percent. Poverty is also widespread. According to a World Bank study last year, more than 25 percent of Romania's people live on less than $5.50 a day. 

Its justice system remains under special monitoring due to long-running concerns over the rule of law and corruption. 

The European Commission criticized Romania last month for failing to implement anti-corruption measures.   

According to the Commission's latest report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM): "The key institutions of Romania need to collectively demonstrate a strong commitment to judicial independence and the fight against corruption, and to ensure the effectiveness of national safeguards and checks and balances." 

Despite EU criticism, there is a growing anti-corruption movement in the Romanian society with various civic movements emerging in recent years. 

The EU is expected to keep up pressure on Romania to strengthen the rule of law and its anti-corruption legal framework and judicial independence.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for late 2020. A victory for Iohannis could help the Liberal Party win the parliamentary elections and form a coalition government, although that won't necessarily bring the much-needed political stability.