Frunda again won a Senate seat after running in the November 2008 election, the first such suffrage to result in mixed member proportional representation at a newly established electoral college level. In Mureş County, the three main UDMR contenders for the electoral college seats were himself, Béla Markó, and László Borbély. In October, before Social Democratic leader Mircea Geoană was elected Senate Chairman, Béla Markó had announced that he favored Frunda for that office, were UDMR in a position to nominate a candidate.