Politics Romania votes: Right-wing populist or pro-European?
The run-off election for the presidency began in Romania on Sunday. It will decide whether the EU-sceptic right-wing populist George Simion or the liberal-conservative pro-European Nicusor Dan will lead the country in the future.
18.05.2025, 07:29
SDA
The ballot is seen as a directional election - also in view of the Russian war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine. Simion is critical of support for Ukraine, while Dan represents the EU's position. The two candidates were recently tied in the polls conducted in the country.
Votes from Romanians abroad can be decisive
However, the forecasts do not take into account the options of Romanians voting abroad. In the past, they have helped to decide election results in close elections. Their number is likely to be considerably more than one million. In the first round of voting on March 4, Simion received around 60 percent of the votes of Romanians abroad - 20 percentage points more than in Romania.
The run-off election abroad began on Friday. By late Saturday evening, more than 700,000 Romanians had already cast their votes there. In addition, voter turnout abroad was twice as high as in the first round. A total of 17.9 million eligible voters were called to the polls.
Simion wants to govern with Georgescu
Simion came first in the first round of voting, but fell short of an absolute majority. He was ahead of Dan by around 20 percentage points.
The entire election is a repeat of last year's presidential election, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court and won by pro-Kremlin Calin Georgescu in the first round. The court had justified the move with unauthorized methods and financing in the election campaign and banned Georgescu from running again. Simion wants to push Georgescu through for the office of Prime Minister.
Right-wing populist could contest election if he loses
Simion declared on Saturday evening that he would only consider the election to be correct if it resulted in a "landslide victory" for him. He commented on this on the short message platform X in a video showing him at the hairdresser. Simion had previously blocked his Facebook and Tiktok accounts to signal that he would no longer be campaigning on the day before the election, in line with regulations. Election advertising is banned in Romania on Saturday and on election Sunday.
Polling stations opened at 6.00 a.m. CEST and close at 8.00 p.m. CEST. The first partial counting results are expected at around 22:00 CEST.
