The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) is set to win the parliamentary elections held in Romania on December 1, followed by the far-right AUR, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the reformist party Save Romania Union (USR). As the vote count nears completion, results seem to confirm that seven political parties managed to pass the 5% threshold to enter the Parliament.

With 99.8% of votes counted, the ruling PSD won the parliamentary elections with roughly 22%, followed by far-right party AUR with about 18%. PNL, which is the Social Democrats' junior partner in the current ruling coalition, comes third with around 14%, followed by the reformist USR with roughly 12%.

Far-right parties SOS Romania and POT (Party of Young People) come next, followed by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

The results confirm that the traditional pro-Western parties managed to maintain control of Parliament despite the far-right movement gaining ground. 

More than 9.45 million Romanians voted in the parliamentary elections, representing a share of 52.5% - a record turnout. Real-time results are officially published here.

The Parliament is the country's sole legislative authority, composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The parliamentary elections determine the composition of both chambers and, indirectly, the formation of a new government, including the prime minister.

To secure mandates, political parties must exceed the national electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes or gain at least 20% of votes in a minimum of four electoral districts. The votes for parties that do not make the threshold are redistributed to the other parties.

The parliamentary vote came a week after the first round of the presidential elections, which saw ultranationalist Călin Georgescu unexpectedly scoring a victory, followed by reformist leader Elena Lasconi (USR). PSD's Marcel Ciolacu ranked third.

The Constitutional Court ordered a recount of the presidential election votes, and a decision on whether or not to annul the first presidential round is expected on Monday.

Should the electoral calendar continue as initially planned, Romanians will go to the polls again on December 8 for the second round of the presidential elections. 

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Casian Mitu)