UPDATE - Romania’s ruling Social Democrats lead in parliamentary elections

REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, UPDATES WITH LATEST DATA

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) was leading in the country’s parliamentary elections late Sunday with nearly 70% of the votes counted.

The pro-Western PSD, which has garnered some 24% of the vote, is followed by the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) with around 18% and the National Liberal Party (PNL) with 14.3% in the Senate elections, according to the country’s election body.

In elections for the Chamber of Deputies, the PSD is leading with 23.7%, followed by the AUR with 17.5% and the PNL with 13.8%.

Candidates from 31 parties and alliances and 19 organizations of national minorities are competing for 330 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 136 in the Senate.

The country has a proportional system in 43 electoral constituencies which corresponds to the 41 counties in Romania, the municipality of Bucharest and the constituency for the diaspora.

Each constituency is designated to represent a geographical area, and the number of mandates allocated to each constituency is proportional to the number of residents.

Parties must exceed the electoral threshold of 5% at the national level or at least 20% of votes in four constituencies to win seats in parliament.