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Leftist PSD Wins Romania Parliamentary Election

by VOA News

   Romania's left-leaning Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the country's
   parliamentary elections with about 46 percent of the vote in both
   houses.

   Official results released Tuesday showed the center-right National
   Liberal Party in second place at about 20 percent.The Save Romania
   Union, a new party that campaigned with an anti-corruption platform,
   finished third with about 9 percent.

   The exact makeup of parliament after Sunday's election is due to be
   announced later in this week.

   A caretaker government under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, a
   former European commissioner, has been running the country during the
   past year.

   Former prime minister Victor Ponta of PSD resigned after mass protests
   following a nightclub fire in October last year that killed 64 people.

   And the chairman of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea, received a two-year
   suspended prison sentence for voter fraud in April for inflating voter
   numbers in a July 2012 referendum to impeach then president Traian
   Basescu.

   Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has refused to appoint anyone with
   legal problems as prime minister.

   A country of about 19 million people, Romania is one of the poorest in
   the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.