BUCHAREST, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Incumbent Romanian President Traian Basescu secured 32.44 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential elections and Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana 31.15 percent, according to provisional final results released by the Central Election Bureau (BEC) on Wednesday.

    They were followed by Crin Antonescu of the National Liberal Party with 20.02 percent, according to the BEC. Other candidates attracted between 0.21 percent to 5.56 percent of the vote.

    According to the Romanian Constitution, Basescu and Geoana, both of whom failed to garner a majority of the vote, face a presidential run-off on Dec. 6.

    According to the election authority, a total of 18,293,277 voters were listed on the permanent rolls, of whom 9,946,748 (54.37 percent) voters cast their ballot.

    These figures were supplied by the BEC after centralizing all the electronic reports sent by county electoral bureaux.

    The authority is awaiting documents from the bureaux before it confirms the results.

    BEC spokesman Marian Muhulet said it would hold a news conference to confirm the result once the final report was in, which was likely to be Thursday.

    Also on Thursday, the documents will be submitted to the Constitutional Court for the validation of the first round poll.

    Local media reported that the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party would strike a political deal later on Wednesday.

    The Liberals would endorse Geoana in the presidential run-off, while the Social Democrats would form a governmental majority with the Liberals and endorse the mayor of the central city of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis, an independent politician proposed by the Liberals, as prime minister of the new government.

    A total of 12 candidates entered the race for the state's top position for the next five years.

    The East European country has been in a political gridlock since mid-October, when its democrat liberal government was ousted in a non- confidence vote in Parliament, the first in the 20 years since the fall of the communist government.

    President Basescu failed to win Parliament support for a new prime minister, and the country will likely not have a legitimate government in place before the Dec. 6 run-off.

Presidential elections begin in Romania

    BUCHAREST, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The presidential elections began on Sunday morning in Romania, over 18 million eligible voters are expected to turn to polls to elect a new president for the next five-year term.

    A number of 12 candidates entered the race for the state's top position. Full story

Combination photo of the main three candidates for Romania's presidency, Romania's incumbent President Traian Basescu (C), Mircea Geoana (L), head of Romania's Social Democrat party, and Crin Antonescu (R), leader of Romania's Liberal party, speaking during the final electoral debate between the main three candidates for Romania's presidency in Bucharest on Nov. 20, 2009. Romania will hold its presidential elections on Nov. 22, 2009. Pictures taken Nov. 20, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>