BUCHAREST -- Romanian voters cast ballots for a new parliament on Sunday, shortly after the dark horse independent candidate Calin Georgescu's lead in the first round of the presidential election.

More than 18 million Romanian citizens, including those living abroad, cast ballots to fill 332 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 137 in the Senate.

A total of 18,968 polling stations across Romania's 42 constituencies opened at 7:00 am local time (0500 GMT) and will close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).

Additionally, 950 polling stations abroad are operating over the weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday.

By Sunday morning at 7:00 am, 170,094 diaspora voters had cast their ballots, almost twice the turnout at the same time in 2020, according to real-time data from the Permanent Electoral Authority.

Over 8,000 candidates from 31 political parties, alliances, and 19 national minority organizations contested the election.

Major parties in the race include the Social Democratic Party, SOS Romania, National Liberal Party, Alliance for the Union of Romanians, Right Force, Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, and Save Romania Union.

Parties must secure at least 5 percent of the national vote or over 20 percent in at least four constituencies to gain parliamentary representation.

The legislative vote is sandwiched between two rounds of presidential races, a week after the unprecedented Constitutional Court order that the Central Electoral Bureau recounts the first round's votes.