BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s opposition Social Democrats (PSD) won Sunday’s general election, a preliminary parallel count showed on Monday, riding a wave of voter discontent over the coronavirus pandemic and the minority Liberal government’s vows of fiscal restraint.
A parallel count by independent platform Code for Romania showed that the leftist Social Democrats won 29.7% of votes and the centrist Liberals of Prime Minister Ludovic Orban 25.57% with roughly 96% of ballots counted. The count does not include roughly 265,000 votes cast in the diaspora.
The centrist alliance USR-Plus, a likely coalition partner for the Liberals won 15.5% of votes. The next parliament looks set to only have five parties, including ethnic Hungarian UDMR and the newcomer Alliance for Uniting Romanians, an ultranationalist grouping.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Kim Coghill)
