Opposition candidate and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu has won Romania's weekend presidential election.
He got 51.23% of the vote against 48.77% for his rival, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, according to definitive results announced today by the central electoral bureau.
Earlier Mr Nastase conceded defeat and congratulated Mr Basescu. Exit and opinion polls last night had put the two candidates neck-and-neck.
The tight presidential race followed an equally close vote for parliament two weeks ago, which returned a hung lower house. That made the outcome of the presidential run-off pivotal as it will be up to the new president to nominate the next prime minister and tip the balance in parliament.
The victory for Mr Basescu will likely give the post to the centrist alliance of Liberals and Democrats, who have just two seats fewer than the PSD.
