BUCHAREST, November 24. /TASS/. Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, of the Social Democratic party, scored 25% of the vote in the first round of a presidential election on Sunday. Center-right opposition leader Elena Lasconi came second to him, garnering 18.1% of the vote, the country’s Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS, reported after polling stations closed at 9:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT), citing the results of exit polls.

Voter turnout in the election stood at 52.41%.

Since a presidential candidate needed to get at least 50% of the votes plus 1 of the total votes to be elected in the first round, Ciolacu and Lasconi will face off in a runoff election on December 8.