According to a CURS poll, the ruling Social Democratic Party won Romania's parliamentary elections, defeating the resurgent, right-wing AUR movement, which has challenged the country's pro-Western tendencies.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on Sunday, where 330 deputies and 136 senators were elected. This is another important vote in the country. On Monday, a decision will be made to confirm or invalidate the results of the first round of presidential elections held on November 24. In the first round, Calin Georgescu, a representative of the extreme right who ran as an independent candidate, unexpectedly won.
“His surprise victory has boosted support for far-right and extremist parties, some of which have clear Russian sympathies, which analysts say could erode Romania's support for Ukraine,” Reuters explains.
Parliamentary elections in Romania PAP/EPA
Exit poll
According to the results of the survey, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) won Sunday's elections with 26 percent of the votes. The second place is the radical right-wing AUR with the support of 19 percent of voters.
The National Liberal Party (PNL), which according to the polls has 15.9 percent, and the center-right USR led by Elena Lasconi (15.6 percent) are in the next positions.
Parliamentary elections in Romania PAP/EPA
Two forces representing the extreme right were also above the threshold – the Romanian SOS party (5.4%) and the Youth Party (5.4%), which supported Calin Georgescu before the election.
Hungary's minority party UDMR received 5% of the vote in the poll, which is the minimum in the election.
The quoted exit poll publishes data from 19 (in Poland), two hours before the end of voting and do not address the diaspora. Therefore, there is a risk that the final results of the election, as in the first round of the presidential election, will be significantly different from the exit poll. The survey conducted at the exit of the polling stations did not take into account diasporas who actively voted in this election, which could have a serious impact on the results.
The results of the parliamentary elections based on the exit poll show that about 60 percent of the “traditional” and western parties can count the seats in the parliament, and the radical right won about 30 percent, increasing its share three times compared to the previous composition of the parliament (the party AUR won by 9 percent in 2020).
“Social Democrats must wait to celebrate”
Reuters notes that if the exit poll results are confirmed, the pro-Western coalition led by the PSD will have enough seats to form a government, although the extremists will also form an important force in the parliament.
“This shouldn't happen.” A pro-Russian politician won the first round of the Romanian presidential election Jakub Loska/Fakti o Świecie TVN24 BiS
Reuters adds that forming a broad coalition will be difficult given the differences between the groups over the measures needed to control the country's huge budget deficit, currently the highest in the EU at 8 percent of GDP.
– The social democrats will have to wait a few more days, said Romanian political commentator Radu Magdin. According to him, the coalition of the HSD and the centrist parties “is more likely than the extremists, who are like a hot potato.” – A lot depends on who will be the president, – he added.
It is the head of state who appoints the head of government, and “the timetable for this process is unclear,” Reuters notes.
In the first round of the presidential elections, Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolaku took the third place.
Romania, protests after the first round of presidential elections ROBERT GEMENT/EPA
Main photo source: PAP/EPA
