Romania’s nationalist candidate George Simion took a comfortable lead in Sunday’s first round of presidential elections, near-final results for the rerun of last year’s annulled ballot showed.
With 99% of the ballots counted, nationalist AUR party leader Simion was leading with 40.5% of the vote.
In a surprising development, he will face off against pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan in the May 18th run-off. Dan surged to second place at the last minute, garnering 20.9% of the votes, narrowly booting out gosimverning coalition candidate Crin Antonescu, who got 20.3%.
“Together we made history today,” said Simion in a video message broadcast at his party’s headquarters as euphoric supporters chanted “Out with the thieves, let patriots come.”
The rerun follows the controversial cancellation of last year’s vote won by NATO critic Călin Georgescu. He was barred from the rerun vote after authorities noted a massive TikTok campaign and issued unsubstantiated claims of Russian interference, sparking protests.
