(ANSA-AFP) - BUCHAREST, 28 SET - Romania's deeply-entrenched
Social Democrats lost control of capital Bucharest in local
elections Sunday, exit polls showed, as mask-clad voters chose
mayors and local councillors nationwide in the first electoral
test after years of political turbulence. Held amid a surge in
new coronavirus cases in the east European country of almost 19
million, the vote for some 43,000 seats is seen as bellwether
for national polls in December. The Social Democrats (PSD) have
held the capital since 2008, but exit polls by local TV stations
showed challenger Nicusor Dan took more than 47 percent of the
vote, a comfortable lead over incumbent mayor Gabriela Firea's
39 percent. The mathematician and former social activist, who
lost to Firea four years ago, is backed by his USR-PLUS party,
but also by the currently ruling and more influential National
Liberal Party (PNL). PSD was unseated nationally last year in a
parliamentary no-confidence vote after attempts to push through
controversial justice reforms, despite warnings from Brussels,
saw massive street protests. Even so, the party, which has
dominated the political landscape since the end of communism 30
years ago, maintains a strong presence in the countryside. It
relies on a disciplined electorate, often at the beck-and-call
of "local barons" -- politicians who have controlled certain
regions for decades. (ANSA-AFP).
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