November 25 (SeeNews) - Romania's incumbent president Klaus Iohannis has won a second five-year term, defeating former prime minister Viorica Dancila in a run-off vote, partial official results indicated on Monday morning.
Iohannis won 66.05% of the votes cast on Sunday, the Central Electoral Bureau, BEC, said in a notice on its website, quoting data from all of the polling stations in the country and abroad. Final results are expected on Thursday.
"I will participate in the creation of a new political majority, a majority comprising democratic parties that will lead Romania to modernization, to Europeanization, to normality," Iohannis said in a televised speech.
Viorica Dancila, who is leader of opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD), was backed by 33.95% of voters.
Voter turnout was 49.87%, compared to 47.66% in the first round of the elections held on November 10. Nearly 18.2 million voters were eligible to cast ballots.
At the previous run-off in 2014 between Klaus Iohannis and former leftist prime minister Victor Ponta, voter turnout was 64.10%.
Iohannis, a former member of ruling National Liberal Party (PNL), has been serving as head of state since November 2014.
On October 10, the Social-Democrat government led by Dancila lost a no-confidence vote requested by PNL, which accused the cabinet of incompetence.
At the beginning of the month, Romania's parliament gave its backing to a PNL government led by Ludovic Orban in a vote of confidence.