Near final election results have shown that Traian Basescu, the incumbent president, has won the Romanian presidential race.

Election authorities said Basescu polled 50.43 per cent of the vote, versus 49.57 per cent for leftist challenger, Mircea Geoana in the run-off.

The Central Election Bureau said Monday's results accounted for 95 per cent of polling stations.

This was in contrast to exit poll results late on Sunday which showed Geoana ahead by a slim margin.

Decisive round

Millions of Romanians voted in the decisive round of the elections. A total of 12 candidates entered the race for the country's top position.

In the first round on November 22, Basescu captured 32.4 per cent of the vote while Geoana secured 31.2 per cent.

Basescu was endorsed by the ruling Democratic-Liberal Party (PDL) while Geoana was supported by the Social Democratic Party-Conservative Party Alliance (PSD), as well as the National Liberal Party and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania.

Both men claimed they had the solutions to lift Romania out of a recession, form a government, eradicate corruption and restore public trust.

But neither candate gave figures on their economic plan for the country,

Budget deficit

Romania's budget deficit is set to hit 7.3 per cent of GDP by the end of 2009.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank agreed in March to provide a $30bn loan to the country to help ease its economic crisis.

But the two lenders withheld payments in November following the collapse of the ruling coalition comprising Basescu's PDL and Geoana's PSD.

An interim administration has ruled Romania since the coalition fell apart.