Klaus Iohannis, a close second behind Ponta in Romania presidency first round vote

[Update, Monday, 9 a.m.]

Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party – National Union for Romania got 40.01 percent of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections on Sunday, according to partial data released by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) at 9 a.m., based on information centralized until 7 a.m. that were collected from 17,213 polling stations, accounting for 91.33 percent of all polling places.

Christian Liberal Alliance’s candidate Klaus Iohannis got 30.54 percent.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta came first in the first tour of the presidential elections on Sunday, November 2, according to the preliminary results released by the Electoral Bureau on Monday morning.

According to BEC, the socialists’ candidate obtained 39.57 percent of votes (2,142,957), followed by liberal Klaus Iohannis with 30.19 percent (1,634,985) and independent candidate Calin Popescu Tariceanu with 5.83 percent.

Elena Udrea received the votes of 5.17 percent of the population, Monica Macovei – 4.65 percent, Dan Diaconescu – 3.84 percent, Corneliu Vadim Tudor – 3,71 percent, Teodor Melescanu – 1.17 percent, Silagy Zsolt – 0.63 percent, Gheorghe Funar – 0.48 percent, William Branza – 0.45 percent, Constantin Rotaru – 0.29 percent, Mircea Amaritei – 0.08 percent.

The preliminary results reflect 52.61 percent of the vote.

Moreover, the Bureau released information on attendance: 50.9 percent of the population attended on Sunday, compared to 53.2 percent in 2009 for the first round of that year’s presidential elections.

Exit polls showed Victor Ponta gaining between 38 and 41 percent of the vote, a score that the number two of his social democratic party, Liviu Dragnea, said “is better than the one he was targeting.”

“I am delighted that so many Romanians have voiced confidence in my programme which aims at developing Romania and ending discord,” Ponta said, quoted by AFP.