Romania’s main opposition Social Democratic Party leads in parliamentary election ?

Romania’s main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) is likely to win the parliamentary elections here, gaining 30.61 percent of the vote with 98.44 percent of the ballots counted, according to the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) data released early Monday morning.

The ruling National Liberal Party, generally favored by polls before the election, scored second with 26.08 percent of the vote. Other parties that crossed the 5-percent threshold required for parliamentary seats were the USR-PLUS Alliance with 15.41 percent, the Alliance for Unity of Romanians (AUR) with 9.17 percent and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) with 6.10 percent.

The results of the election have surprised many as they were somewhat different from predictions.

Apart from the fact that the ruling party failed to rank first in the election, the AUR, the dark horse of the current election, is particularly eye-catching. The nationalist party, founded just over a year ago, has not only seized some seats in the new parliament, but also got high votes of nearly 10 percent.

Under special protection measures including wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, Romania held the parliamentary election on Sunday amid COVID-19, with a total of 7,136 candidates competing for seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

In order to win the parliament, the parties need to obtain over 5 percent of the national votes or over 20 percent of the votes in at least four constituencies.

According to the data announced by the BEC, the total number of eligible voters in Romania is over 18 million, yet the turnout rate in this general election was only 31.84 percent, the lowest in the past 30 years.

The partial results show that no party is likely to win more than 50 percent of the votes to hold the majority in the future parliament. Thus, the future government will almost certainly be a coalition one.

The election took place amid the worsening pandemic situation in the country, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassing half a million on Friday.

• Politicians encourage Hungarians’ voting in Romanian election

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UPDATE

Orbán congratulates Romania RMDSZ on election result

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has congratulated Romania’s ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party on the results it achieved in Sunday’s general election, saying that Hungarian representation remained strong in the Romanian parliament.

In a letter to RMDSZ head Hunor Kelemen, Orbán noted the challenges the coronavirus epidemic had posed during the elections. The difficulties have also shown, however, that “exemplary cooperation” between Hungarian parties in the country was justified, Orbán said, and congratulated Kelemen on the results.

Source: Bucharest, Xinhua