BUCHAREST (AFP) – Romania’s left-wing opposition Social Democrats won most votes in the weekend general election, narrowly pushing their right-wing Liberal Democrats rivals into second place, according to the official results that were released yesterday.

The Social Democrat (PSD) party won 33.6 percent of the votes for both the chamber of deputies and the senate, just fractionally ahead of the Liberal Democrats (PDL) with 32.9 percent, the central electoral bureau announced.

Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu’s ruling Liberal Party was lagging way behind in third place with 18.6 percent.

[Liberal Party lawmaker Ludovic Orban says his party would consider joining a coalition only if it controlled the post of premier, The Associated Press reported yesterday.]

For the first time this year, Romanians were voting for senators and deputies in a single round of voting, with 315 seats in the chamber of deputies and 137 senate seats up for grabs.

The PSD won 33.09 percent of votes for the chamber of deputies and 34.16 percent of votes for the senate, while the PDL scored 32.36 percent and 33.57 percent respectively.

Voting is on a basis of proportional representation, but the final allocation of seats in both houses will be announced later this week.

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), a junior partner in the current ruling coalition with Tariceanu’s Liberal Party, came fourth, scoring an average 6.48 percent for both houses.

But the far-right Greater Romania Party (PRM), the country’s second political force in 2000, failed to secure the 5 percent needed to get into parliament.

Sunday’s election highlighted the massive public disenchantment with politics.

With around 18 million Romanians entitled to vote, turnout was just 39.26 percent, the lowest since the fall of communism in 1989.