Romania's left-leaning Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the country's parliamentary elections with about 46 percent of the vote in both houses.
Official results released Tuesday showed the center-right National Liberal Party in second place at about 20 percent.The Save Romania Union, a new party that campaigned with an anti-corruption platform, finished third with about 9 percent.
The exact makeup of parliament after Sunday's election is due to be announced later in this week.
A caretaker government under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, a former European commissioner, has been running the country during the past year.
Former prime minister Victor Ponta of PSD resigned after mass protests following a nightclub fire in October last year that killed 64 people.
And the chairman of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea, received a two-year suspended prison sentence for voter fraud in April for inflating voter numbers in a July 2012 referendum to impeach then president Traian Basescu.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has refused to appoint anyone with legal problems as prime minister.
A country of about 19 million people, Romania is one of the poorest in the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.