Presidential elections in Romania. First round

Romanian citizens at home and abroad have gone to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president. Over 18 million voters are expected to cast their ballots, according to the Permanent Electoral Authority.

Fourteen candidates are registered in this race, including current President Klaus Iohannis (Liberal National Party), who is seen as a favorite, and former Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă (Social Democratic Party).

There are 18,748 polling stations across the country, and 835 polling stations for the Romanian citizens abroad. Polling stations across the country opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), and are scheduled to close at 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT). Overseas voting started on Friday inan unprecedented three-day voting session in the history of Romania’s presidential elections.

Citizens can vote with valid identity documents issued by the Romanian state: Identity Card; electronic Identity Card; provisional Identity Card; identity passbook; diplomatic passport; electronic diplomatic passport; service passport; electronic service passport; simple passport; simple electronic passport; temporary simple passport; travel document; military passbook.

Voter turnout in Sunday's presidential election as of 18:00 hrs was 42.19 pct nationwide, according to Spokesman of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) Mircea Preotescu. Turnout in the urban area was 42.41 pct, and 41.9 pct in rural areas. Higher turnout rates were reported in the counties of Ilfov (53.67 pct), Cluj (50.83 pct) and Brașov (47.40 pct). Lower turnout rates were reported in the counties of Covasna (31.85 pct), Vaslui (32.72 pct) and Satu Mare (33.28 pct). Turnout in Bucharest was 43.68 pct, as follows in each district: 50.66 pct (1) ; 44.68 pct (2); 37.73 pct (3); 44.79 (4); 40.18 pct (5); 47.95 pct (6).Total number of voters having turned out to vote as of 18:00 hrs EET is 7,686258, of whom 4,418,535 in urban areas and 3,267,723 in rural areas.

If none of the candidates gets majority of votes validly cast by the voters registered with the permanent electoral lists, a second round is scheduled for November 24 between the first two vote getters. Presidential elections will be won by the candidate who gets the highest number of votes validly cast.

Romania's President is elected every five years.