Incumbent PM leads Romania's presidential poll

Exit polls showed that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party, took the lead in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, gaining 25 percent of the vote, reported Xinhua.

Elena Lasconi, the leader of the Save Romania Union, followed with 18 percent of the votes while Calin Georgescu, an independent, gathered 16 percent of the votes, according to the exit poll conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology - CURS.

According to the Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania, over 18 million voters registered for this election. Romania's president serves a five-year term, with a maximum of two consecutive terms allowed.