< strong>Independent candidate Calin Georgescu collects the most votes in the first round of the presidential elections in Romania – 22.16 percent of the votes, Agerpress agency reported, referring to the data announced by the Permanent Electoral Authority, with nearly 95 percent of the protocols in the country centralized, BTA reported.
According to the provisional results, Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku is in second place with 20.38 percent.
The third place is taken by the leader of the center-right opposition party “Union for the Salvation of Romania” Elena Laskoni with 17.81 percent, according to the data of the Permanent Electoral Body, which are broadcast in real time on the institution's website.
The following candidates from a total of 14 names on the ballot are ranked as follows: George Simion (Alliance for the Unification of Romanians) – 14.2 percent, Nicolae Chuka (National Liberal Party) – 9.16 percent, Mircea Joanna (independent) – 6.18 percent, Kelemen Hunor (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania) – 4.92 percent and Cristian Diaconescu (independent) – 3.06 percent.
The rest of the participants in the first round collected about one percent or less than one percent of the votes.
In the vote abroad, Calin Georgescu was again ranked first with 39.13 percent, informs Agerpress, referring to the data of the Permanent Electoral Authority, with more than 51 percent of the protocols of voting abroad centralized.
Elena Lasconi (Union for the Salvation of Romania) ranked second with 28.24 percent.
Next: George Simion -12.15 percent, Nicolae Chuka – 6.22 percent, Mircea Joanna – 5.12 percent, Marcel Cholaku – 3.71 percent, Cristian Diaconescu – 1.86 percent, Christian Terhesch – 1.61 percent.
The remaining candidates received less than one percent of the vote abroad, according to provisional data.
These results clearly show that independent candidate Calin Georgescu is ranked first, while Elena Lasconi and Marcel Çolaku are fighting for second place, Digi 24 TV points out.
Romanian media note that it is still not possible to say which candidate will enter the second round against Calin Giorgescu, as the gap between Elena Lasconi and Marcel Ciolacu is not very big, with Lasconi ranked second in the vote behind margin in contrast to Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku, who is only sixth, according to provisional data.