Bucharest (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Romanians will vote on Sunday to choose a new president in a heated runoff between a far-right nationalist and a pro-EU centrist. The contest features George Simion, the 38-year-old head of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), facing off against Nicusor Dan, the current Mayor of Bucharest.
The vote follows the cancellation of the previous election, which was marred by accusations of electoral fraud and Russian meddling, leading Romania into its most severe political crisis in decades.
Polling stations opened for the second round of the Romanian Presidential election, where voter turnout is anticipated to be high.
Who are the key competitors?
George Simion of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), has relied on backing from discontented Georgescu supporters.
Simion has characterized his AUR party, which advocates for “family, nation, faith and freedom,” as “in perfect alignment with the MAGA [President Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’] movement” in the US, and he has not dismissed the possibility of appointing Georgescu as prime minister if he secures a victory.
Simion’s opponent is the current Bucharest Mayor, Nicusor Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption campaigner who established the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016. He is campaigning on a pro-EU platform called “Honest Romania.”
Approximately 53%, equating to 9.5 million individuals, participated in the first round on May 4, with hard-right candidate George Simion topped the first round by securing 41% of the votes.
He is now competing against pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, who finished second in the May 4 election. Pro-EU Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stepped down after the first round, stating that his ruling coalition lacked “legitimacy” after populist Simion received more than 40% of the votes.
What caused the annulment of the last Romanian election?
In the previous presidential election in November, far-right, pro-Russian outsider Calin Georgescu unexpectedly emerged as the frontrunner in the first round. However, Romania’s constitutional court subsequently annulled the vote due to identified irregularities in the campaign’s financing and organization.
Claims of electoral misconduct involved the reactivation of thousands of dormant social media accounts to disseminate pro-Georgescu messages, characterized as an “aggressive Russian hybrid attack,” a claim Russia refutes. In February, Romanian public prosecutors initiated an investigation into Georgescu, who faced disqualification from participating in May’s rerun.
