PDL wins Romanian election

03/12/2008

BUCHAREST, Romania -- The Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) won the general election, according to Central Electoral Bureau results released late Tuesday (December 2nd). Although the party lost the popular vote by a small margin Sunday, the new majority system worked largely to its advantage. As a result, the PDL won 138 of the 333 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 58 of 137 seats in the Senate, or slightly above 40% of seats in both chambers. The coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party trails by 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and by three in the Senate, finishing firmly in second place. The incumbent ruling National Liberal Party won just around 11% of seats in both chambers, receiving over 18% of the popular vote. The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania was more or less unaffected by the new system, gaining 6.91% of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 6.57% of seats in the Senate. Final results are expected on Thursday. (Hotnews.ro, Gandul - 03/12/08; Mediafax, Xinhua - 02/12/08)