Voter turnout at 53.5% in Romanian presidential election

Voter turnout in Sunday's Romanian presidential election was 53.52 percent at 21:00, when polls closed, the Central Election Bureau reported. The turnout was much higher than in the elections for the European Parliament this summer, 31 percent, but lower than in the 2004 presidential election, when the turnout was 58.5 percent. The polls on Sunday started promising, when after the first two hours the turnout was twice the figure registered in the 2004 election. However the attendance decreased gradually, except for the special polling stations, where people were still queuing up after the polls closed at 21:00. Turnouts well above 50 percent were registered in the counties of Teleorman, Mehedinti, Ilfov, Dambovita and Olt; in the counties of Covasna, Harghita, Satu Mare turnouts were below 50 percent. In the capital Bucharest 50.9 percent voted. The referendum proposing the introduction of the unicameral parliament and the reduction of parliamentary seats that took place concurrently with the presidential election was deemed valid, as the turnout reached 50.16 percent. Turnouts at overseas polling stations will be released on November 23.