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Exit polls see Romania's Social Democrats lose Bucharest

(ANSA-AFP) - BUCHAREST, 28 SET - Romania's deeply-entrenched Social Democrats lost control of capital Bucharest in local elections Sunday, exit polls showed, as mask-clad voters chose mayors and local councillors nationwide in the first electoral test after years of political turbulence. Held amid a surge in new coronavirus cases in the east European country of almost 19 million, the vote for some 43,000 seats is seen as bellwether for national polls in December. The Social Democrats (PSD) have held the capital since 2008, but exit polls by local TV stations showed challenger Nicusor Dan took more than 47 percent of the vote, a comfortable lead over incumbent mayor Gabriela Firea's 39 percent. The mathematician and former social activist, who lost to Firea four years ago, is backed by his USR-PLUS party, but also by the currently ruling and more influential National Liberal Party (PNL). PSD was unseated nationally last year in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after attempts to push through controversial justice reforms, despite warnings from Brussels, saw massive street protests. Even so, the party, which has dominated the political landscape since the end of communism 30 years ago, maintains a strong presence in the countryside. It relies on a disciplined electorate, often at the beck-and-call of "local barons" -- politicians who have controlled certain regions for decades. (ANSA-AFP).