The best placed contender for Bucharest mayor in local elections on Sunday, Democrat Liberal (PD-L) Vasile Blaga, said on Sunday night he was optimistic about winning the next round of elections and about the record his party obtained in the elections for Bucharest City Council. His rival in the next round, independent Sorin Oprescu, insisted that he was the first independent candidate to reach a second round in Bucharest. Liberal candidate said he was disappointed by the results.

Blaga said as exit poll resuts were announced that he trusted PD-L would have half of the councilors at the Bucharest city hall. But he said he would not expect for himself an easy second round of elections against Oprescu.

For his part, Oprescu, placed second in elections for Bucharest mayor on Sunday, said he expected a better performance but said the eventual result was good enough, considering the low turnout.

Ludovic Orban, the Liberal candidate who came third in the Bucharest poll, said he was unpleasantly surprised by the exit-poll results. He said citizens would come to regret they did not show up and vote on Sunday because they'd have to choose between two evils in the second round.

The voters turnout in local elections across Romania on Sunday reached 49.38% at country level, according to the Central Electoral Office. According to statistics, turnout in urban areas stood at 40.7% and reached 61.26% in rural areas.

Most voters turned out in the counties of Ilfov (64.6%), Giurgiu (61.2%) and Teleorman (60.5%), while the lowest turnout was reported in Timis (40.9%), Tulcea (45.62%) and Galati (45.7%).

31.05% of Bucharest voters turned out to cast their ballots before polling stations closed at 9 p.m.