as well as on her record as Justice Minister and MEP. In the first round of the elections in October, Macovei received 4.44% in the national vote. She received her best results in large cities: Bucharest - 12%; Cluj-Napoca - 11.87%; Timișoara – 9.23%; Constanța – 8.84%; and Iași - 10%. More than 15% of the Romanians who voted abroad voted for Macovei. Macovei stated that statistics showed that those who voted for her were mostly between 18 and 35 and with higher education. Nonetheless, her fifth place finish meant she did not go on to the second round run-off elections, in which Iohannis and Prime Minister and PSD leader Victor Ponta would compete. Macovei endorsed Iohannis, who would go on to win the elections. At one point during the campaign, Ponta made reference to Macovei's Greek Catholic faith, to which she had converted. This was interpreted broadly as implying that she was not fully Romanian, as the large majority of citizens are Romanian Orthodox. Macovei accused Ponta and the PSD of using her religious affiliation to attack her candidacy with "xenophobia, chauvinism, and intolerance." On 4 November 2014, following her presidential electoral defeat, Macovei said she would seek to establish a new political party in Romania, which was later called M10. Controversies Macovei was involved in a number of controversies in Romania while Justice Minister, sometimes indirectly. Media and groups in support of Macovei noted that domestic criticism against her by the local media and Romanian parliament increased markedly after Romania's accession to the EU when politicians no longer worried about implications in Brussels. They also said such attacks stemmed from a broader and very public conflict between Prime Minister Popescu-Tăriceanu and President Traian Băsescu, which divided the ruling coalition and contributed to the break-up of the "Justice and Truth Alliance." Macovei consistently stated that the attacks lodged against her by politicians were "proof that reform was on the right track" under her leadership. Alleged abuse of power Monica Macovei was on several occasions accused of abuse of power in her position as Minister of Justice. One such incident involved a comment she made on national television that reporters had no right to criticize her and her ministry and that they should pay attention to their own "problems with Romanian justice." Her comment appeared aimed at the director of the Romanian newspaper Ziua, Sorin Roşca Stănescu, who had been