ATHENS
Romanian Premier Marcel Ciolacu led the first round of Sunday's presidential election with 25% votes, exit polls showed, and a run-off seemed likely after two weeks.
Ciolacu, candidate of the Social Democratic Party, was followed by Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party with 18%, the Antena3 broadcaster reported.
Some 9.4 million people cast vote in the polls that closed at 1900 GMT, indicating an over 50% voter turnout.
Voters were choosing between 13 candidates to replace outgoing President Klaus Iohannis.
The top two move on to a run-off on Dec. 8 if no single candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round.
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