Over 8.9 million (49%) voted in presidential election runoff by 20:00hrs. The two contenders, Iohannis and Dancila, cast their vote

8,923,162 Romanians voted in the second round of presidential election on Sunday by 20:15hrs, with the turnout mounting to 49.3%. Ilfov, Sibiu and Cluj top the turnout ranking. The total turnout including the Diaspora vote stands at 54.27%.

8,584,467 Romanians voted in Romania in the second round of presidential election on Sunday by 7 p.m., by 300,000 more than in the first round. The turnout stood at 47.125 two hours before the voting ends.

Turnout exceed 50% in such counties as Ilfov, Cluj, Sibiu, Brașov, Giurgiu, Olt, Argeș, Alba, Teleorman, Timiș, Dâmbovița, Vâlcea Prahova and Constanța. The highest turnout was reported in Ilfov – 63%.

The presidential election runoff has started on Sunday in Romania, with over 8 million voters going to polls by 18:00hrs. More precisely, 8,072,538 cast their vote by this hour, meaning a turnout of 44.31%.

4,599,438 voted in the urban areas and 3,473,100 in the countryside.

In Bucharest, the turnout stood at 46.22% by 18:00hrs.

High turnout: Ilfov (58.24%), Cluj (52.71%), Sibi (50.67%) and Brașov (50.00%).

Low turnout: Harghita (19.88 %), Covasna (22.35 %) and Satu Mare (33.39 %).

7.34 million Romanian cast their vote by 17:00hrs. The turnout stood at 40.29%. Counties such as Ilfov, (52%) Cluj (46.85%), Brasov (45.49%)  and Olt (45.19%) top the turnout ranking. Ilfov is the only one where the turnout exceeded 50%, 52.32% .

Lowest turnout was in Harghita (17.83%), Covasna (19.94%), Satu Mare (30.01%), Vaslui (32.59%) and Mureş (33.45%).

The turnout stood at 41.74% in Bucharest.

Out  of the 7,341,534 voters, 4,179m214 were reported in the urban areas, and  3,162,320 in the villages.

The most numerous voters are those aged 45-64, around 2.7 million.

Over 6.5 million Romanians had cast their vote by 16:00hrs, meaning 35.81%.

6,524,336 Romanians had cast their vote by 4 p.m., almost 500,000 more than in the first round of elections, when by this hour 6,093,433 voters had gone to polls.

Counties like Ilfov (45.98%), Cluj(41.19%) and Brașov (40.76%) report the highest turnout. 37.09% had voted in Bucharest.

The turnout was higher in the urban areas than in the rural ones. 3.73 million people living in the cities versus 2.79 million in the countryside.

31.39 pc had voted by 3 p.m. and over 5 million by 14:00hrs.

2,076,225 Romanians had voted by 11:00hrs (11.39% turnout). Two weeks ago, in the first round 2,019,704 had voted by 11:00hrs.

The turnout stood at 3.35% by 9 a.m., as reported by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC).

Out of the total number of 610,918 voters, 344,035 voted in the urban area and 266,883 in the rural area by 9 a.m. In Bucharest, the voter turnout was 2.95%.

The highest turnout by 09.30 hrs was reported in such counties as Teleorman (6.79 %), Ilfov (6.58 %), Olt (65.3 %), Constanța (6,51%) and Tulcea (6.32%), and the lowest in Harghita (1.88 %), Covasna (2.07%), Satu Mare (3.67%), Suceava (3.78%).

The incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, running for a second term endorsed by the National Liberal Party (PNL), has said that he voted for a modern, European, normal Romania and called on voters to come to polls.

“Today is a very, very important day. I have personally voted for a modern, European, normal Romania and I invite you all, dear Romanians, to come to polls to cast your vote. Today, we vote for Romania’s future, for the direction in which Romania should go. Today is the day of the champions with the “VOTED” stamp in their hand. Dear Romanians, today, you must all be champions!,” Iohannis stated after he cast his vote at the polling station set up at the “Jean Monnet” High School in Bucharest.

He voiced confidence that many Romanians will vote.

“I have the expectation for many Romanians to turn out to vote and, obviously, we are anxiously expecting the result this evening,” Iohannis stated.

Iohannis added that there will be any incidents, in his view.

“From I know so far, everything is very well organised and I believe things will run smoothly. It’s important for people to go and vote,” the President concluded.

In her turn, Social Democrat Party (PSD) candidate Viorica Dancila said she voted for a Romania “going forward, not backwards,” and “from the heart for Romania and the Romanians.”

“I have voted for a Romania going forward, not backwards to the time  when we had no rights, we had no liberties, because all the power was in the hands of a single man. I have voted for a mandate at Cotroceni [Presidential Palace] in which we should see more involvement, more work, more respect and devotion for the Romanian people and for our national interests,” Viorica Dancila said on Sunday, after she cast her vote at the “Sfantul Sava” National College.

The PSD candidate added it is “very well” that the turnout was high among the Romanians in the Diaspora.

“This is why we established the three days of voting and the mail voting, for Romanians in the diaspora to be able to vote in an as great number as possible. It is very well that they voted,” she pointed out.

Over 100% turnout in Iohannis’ favorite ski resort

A record  turnout has been reported in the ski resort preferred by Presiden Iohannis for winter sports. A 107% turnout was reported in the polling station set up in Paltinis, the favorite ski resort of the incumbent head of state.

28 voters cast their vote on the additional lists in this polling station. 26 voters are registered on the permanent lists in this small mountain locality, meaning the inhabitants, but none had turned out to vote by Sunday morning. Instead, 28 tourists had voted.

Electoral fraud case in Teleorman

A criminal file for mobile box fraud has been opened in one of the polling stations in Teleorman.

The incident occurred at the section 181, when a man came to cast his vote but it was determined that he would have filed for a mobile box. He denied he would have applied for a mobile box.