The far right wins the first round of elections in Romania.

BerlinUltra-nationalist candidate George Simion has won the first round of the Romanian presidential elections, which had to be re-run following accusations of Russian interference in the November elections. With 89% of the votes counted, victory was clear on Sunday evening.

The far-right candidate thus easily advances to the second round, scheduled for May 18. What remains unclear is who his rival will be, as the margin was very narrow pending the final vote count. Simion, 38, could face former liberal leader Crin Antonescu—head of the governing coalition of parties—or Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan. Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta and the conservative, pro-European liberal candidate Elena Lasconi are eliminated.

With 89% of the votes counted, Simion, leader of the ultra-nationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) party, has obtained 40.13% of the votes; Antonescu, 21.16% and Nicusor Dan, 19.37%. Ponta, meanwhile, is expected to have 14.35% of the votes, while Lasconi, 2.62%.

While waiting for the final result, it is already safe to say that Simion will not have enough votes to govern alone. Therefore, a second round will be held on May 18 to choose the new tenant of Cotroceni Palace, the official residence of the Romanian president in Bucharest.

The far-right leader is a controversial figure in Romania.He is a conservative, ultra-nationalist, anti-vaccine, and highly critical of the EU. He has been banned from entering Ukraine and Moldova for having made territorial claims in these countries and for suspicions of pro-Russian sympathies, which he denies. His victory is an important warning for the country, but also for Brussels.

Simion is an admirer of US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. "We are natural allies of the Republican Party and are almost perfectly aligned ideologically with the MAGA movement," Simion explained, referring to the acronym of Trump's famous conservative campaign slogan. Make America Great Again.

A 'special' election

Romania repeated the elections on Sunday after the results of the November 2024 presidential election were annulled for alleged Russian interference and the disqualification of the pro-Russian former candidate Calin Georgescu.

Simion, who is running in these elections as Georgescu's political heir, voted early this morning in Mogosoaia, a town on the outskirts of Bucharest, accompanied by the banned candidate. "Christ is risen! I voted with Calin Georgescu. We are here with a mission: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy. I have no other objective than to prioritize the Romanian people, whom I serve. We are here with the people and for the Romanian people, with a single desire: to bring justice to Romania," said Si.

Although Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the November elections, has been unable to run in these new elections. The Romanian Constitutional Court disqualified him due to allegations of Russian interference and illegal campaign financing, and ordered a rerun. Both Moscow and Georgescu have denied any Russian interference.

Simion is now confident of achieving what Georgescu failed to do in 2024: winning the presidential elections. If he succeeds, Romania will join the club of European Union countries led by far-right politicians, such as Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Finland, and the Netherlands.

Some 18 million Romanians are registered on the electoral lists to elect Romania's president. The turnout was 53.21%.

A huge political crisis

Romanians have voted amid the country's greatest political crisis since the transition from Nicolae Ceausescu's communist dictatorship to democracy in 1989.

Romania has been governed since 2021 by a coalition of social democrats and liberals. The elections were held at a difficult time for the country: domestically, due to the deep political crisis, growing economic problems, high inflation, and high unemployment; and externally, due to tensions caused by the war in Ukraine and the Russian threat in Eastern Europe.

This country, a member of NATO since 2004 and of the European Union since 2007, has played a key role in supporting Ukraine after the Russian war of aggression, but this could change depending on the election results. If Simion wins, he has promised to withdraw military support for Kiev.