Romania’s mainstream political parties appeared on course to retain control of the country’s parliament, exit polls suggested after a general election on Sunday, despite big gains by nationalist far-right groups.

In Romania's parliamentary elections, preliminary results after 99.45% of the votes counted show that the ruling pro-European Social Democratic Party (PSD) has secured victory. However, in second place is the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians,

Despite the center-left victory, the strong showing of the far right is significant ahead of the presidency vote on Dec. 8.