Romanians Head to Polls for New Parliament Amid Ongoing Presidential Contest
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Bucharest, Dec 1 (NationPress) Romanian voters cast their votes for a new parliament on Sunday, shortly after the unexpected rise of independent candidate Calin Georgescu in the initial round of the presidential election.
Over 18 million Romanian citizens, including those residing abroad, participated in the election to fill 332 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 137 in the Senate, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
A total of 18,968 polling stations across Romania's 42 constituencies opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will remain open until 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT).
Moreover, 950 polling stations abroad are operational throughout the weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday.
More than 8,000 candidates from 31 political parties, alliances, and 19 national minority organizations are vying for election.
Major contenders in this race include the Social Democratic Party, SOS Romania, National Liberal Party, Alliance for the Union of Romanians, Right Force, Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, and Save Romania Union.
To gain parliamentary representation, parties must achieve at least 5 percent of the national vote or exceed 20 percent in at least four constituencies.
This legislative vote occurs between two rounds of presidential elections, following an unprecedented order from the Constitutional Court requiring the Central Electoral Bureau to recount the votes from the first round.
