Bucharest, Nov 20 (IANS): Romania's Christian Liberal Alliance candidate Klaus Iohannis won the presidential run-off, according to the final results released by the Central Election Bureau (BEC) Thursday.

According to the results, Iohannis, mayor of the city of Sibiu, garnered 54.43 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential run-off.

Social Democratic leader, incumbent Prime Minister Victor Ponta, scored 45.56 percent, Xinhua reported citing the data released by the bureau after centralising the reports from all polling stations.

Iohannis polled 6,288,769 votes, compared to Ponta with 5,264,383, according to the BEC. Voter turnout in the runoff was 64.10 percent, 10.94 percent higher than it was in the first round.

The final results will be sent to the Constitutional Court for validation.

Iohannis, 55, ran for presidency under the banner of the centre-right Christian Liberal Alliance, comprising the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Liberal Party. Ponta, 42, is backed by the centre-left Alliance of Social Democrats, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservatives.

They were the top two candidates running for the presidential run-off, which was held two weeks after the first round of the elections when a total of 14 candidates competed for the country's top office.

The Romanian president is elected once every five years under the constitution, with a maximum of two consecutive terms allowed. Incumbent President Traian Basescu was first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009.