The Social Liberal Union (USL) won a landslide victory in Romania's local elections on Sunday, according to initial results announced Monday by the country's Central Electoral Bureau.

The USL, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, won the most seats for mayor in the local elections with a total tally of 236 seats or 53.27 percent of the vote.

They were followed by the Liberal Democratic Party with 70 seats (15.8 percent), according to official data gathered from 443 of the 3,186 local election districts.

The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, an alliance of the former Liberal Democratic government, obtained 31 seats (6.99 percent).

Central Electoral Bureau spokesperson Marian Muhulet said for the local councilor position, USL won 2,070 seats (42.7 percent), while the Liberal Democrats got 775 seats (15.78 percent).

As many as 56.39 percent of some 18 million voters cast their votes in Romania's local elections.

For the first time since December 1989, mayors and chairmen of county councils were to be elected in a single round, with the candidate obtaining the highest number of votes declared the winner. Local and county councilors are elected based on party lists.

The local elections are widely regarded as a litmus test of parliamentary elections later this year.

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