Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said his Social Democratic Party (PSD) is winning Sunday's parliamentary elections and that it is looking forward to negotiations to form a coalition government.

"It looks like our victory. But we must wait until the final results are released," he said after polls closed at 19:00 GMT.

Exit polls showed that the ruling PSD pocketed about 40 percent of the vote, a modestly better performance than in 2000. But it still lacks the majority to form a government by itself.

The center-right Justice and Truth alliance headed by Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu won about 35 percent, a sharp increase from the 2000 poll. The Greater Romania Party got about 13 percent, down from 20 percent in 2000.

In the parallel presidential election, exit polls showed Nastase is leading with 42 percent against Basescu's 35 percent.

The two rivals look set to enter a run-off scheduled for Dec.12 as neither of them might be able to gain the 50 percent plus one vote needed for outright victory.

Poverty and corruption are top concerns among the 18 million voters.

Romania wants to join the European Union by 2007, but was told to eliminate corruption and improve press freedom first.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2004)