Partial results for the local elections in Romania show the widening gap between the governing coalition the Social Liberal Union (USL) and the former ruling party Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).

With only half of the votes in Bucharest centralized, it seems that the incumbent mayor Sorin Oprescu, an independent candidate backed up by USL, got 55 percent of the votes, followed by Silviu Prigoana, with 16.4 percent, and by Horia Mocanu, with 9.2 percent. The independent candidate Nicusor Dan (in picture) came as a surprise, with 8.77 percent of the votes, convincing some 35,000 people to vote for him, after becoming visible in the media only at the beginning of this year and having had an aggressive online campaign. The 42-year old was short of winning a mandate in the Bucharest Council. He needed 5 percent of the votes to become a member of the council.

The USL also took the majority of the Bucharest general council, running at 55 percent of the vote. So far only half of the votes Bucharest council have been centralized.

The USL have taken 41 percent of the mayoral seats across Romania, well ahead of the PDL, with 15 percent, after 93 percent of the votes counted, according to the Central Electoral Bureau's official data. The USL also got the majority of votes in local councils across the country, having won 32 percent of the votes, while the PDL got 15 percent.

The governing union also got the majority – 49 percent – of the county councils, the PDL also got some 14 percent, while for presidency of county councils, 49 percent of the votes went to USL and 14 percent to PDL.

Turnout reached 57.8 percent across the country and 44.6 percent in Bucharest.

editor@romania-insider.com