Shock election result after it was REDONE due to ‘Russian meddling' as Europe deals Putin blow in ‘Super Sunday' votes
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
EUROPE'S voters have delivered a crushing blow to Putin in a shock election twist, following a re-run after claims of Russian meddling.
Millions of Europeans headed to the polls today in what is being called a Super Sunday showdown.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
5
Far-right candidate George Simion casts his vote during Romania's presidential election in Bucharest
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
5
Nicusor Dan is expected to win the election, according to exit polls
Credit: EPA
5
Romania's elections had to be redone due to claims of Russian meddling last year
Credit: Reuters
Romania's far-right candidate George Simion has long been the favourite to win the country's presidential election.
Simion comfortably won the first round of voting on May 4 with 41 per cent of the vote - double that of rival Nicusor Dan.
But the gap between the pair is closing in and Dan is now expected to snag the win in what will be a nail-biting finish.
Dan was reportedly ahead of Simion after 50 per cent of votes had been counted, with exit polls predicting a win for the current mayor of Bucharest.
Dan's win will come as a massive blow to Putin who has the support of the far-right.
Simion's campaign was reportedly inspired by US MAGA politicians, with the far-right candidate promising to "make Romania great again".
His win would have been welcome news to Putin, with the former football ultra previously pledging to end military aid to Kyiv.
Simion has also been banned from the war-torn country for calling for territory there to be part of Romania.
A Romanian politician, Siegfried Mureşan, celebrated the result as he said a win for Simion would 'benefit only Vladimir Putin'.
But it appears Simion has not taken the possibility of losing well, as footage shows him on stage publicly rejecting the outcome of the exit polls.
Russia unleashes 'war's biggest drone attack' as Putin defies Trump's calls to 'stop bloodbath' & vows to keep fighting
This comes as the result of last year's presidential election was scrapped after claims of Russian meddling emerged.
It is thought that Russia helped set up unverified social media TikTok accounts in support of the far-right independent candidate Calin Georgescu who came out on top.
The pro-Georgescu videos posted on TikTok were not labelled as election content, directly breaching Romania's laws.
Moscow denied interfering in the vote.
Millions of Europeans headed to the polls today in what has been dubbed Super Sunday, with Romania, Poland and Portugal holding elections.
The first round of Poland's presidential election has also proved to be a kick in the teeth to Vlad, with exit polls suggesting that Warsaw's liberal Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski will take the win.
The Russian tyrant was likely hoping for a far-right candidate to win, with many of those in the running holding anti-Ukraine views.
A number of candidates even discussed backing an 'agreement' with Russia's Vladimir Putin in their election campaigns.
And in the Portuguese elections the centre-right appears to be ahead, as the far-right sees yet another fall.
5
Poles cast their votes in the polling station in Gdansk, Poland
Credit: Getty
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Moment one of Putin's warplanes crashes after wing falls off during bombing raid
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This is the extraordinary moment a wing fell off a Russian Su-25 during a frontline mission. War footage captured the second the £15 million attack jet crashed after flying in a pair over Ukraine's Donetsk region. The pilot miraculously cheated death by ejecting before his aircraft fell to the ground. His doomed warplane is seen banking sharply before falling out of the sky and crash diving into a field. At first it appeared the Su-25 had been shot down – possibly by 'friendly fire', an unguided missile, from its partner plane, a claim made by the Ukrainian media. The footage shows heat trap flares and possible missiles from the Su-25s. Ukraine's Military media outlet ruled out both friendly fire and an exploding missile on the distressed aircraft. Yet experts on both sides now believe the aircraft's downing near Soledar could be related to Vladimir Putin's use of ageing war planes, with some Russian jets 40 years old or more. While flames and white smoke are seen rising from the aircraft, there is no giant explosion, which would be expected if there was a direct missile hit. The right wing is seen falling from the stricken aircraft – and the pilot's parachute is visible after ejecting. The pilot was reportedly rescued by Russian ground forces while under fire from Ukrainian drones. He was then evacuated from the crash site by a Mi-8 helicopter. 'The pilot is in the hospital with a broken arm,' reported Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber. 'A commission will investigate what went wrong and determine who is to blame.' The same source said that 'destruction of the wing' was the cause. Ukraine has neither officially claimed to have shot down the plane, nor taunted Russia over another friendly fire incident. The visible 'missiles' may be unignited heat trap flares designed to distract heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft's engines, according to some sources. 'The third possible reason is a defect in the aircraft's power structure that arose due to prolonged intensive use of the aircraft in combat operations or a manufacturing defect,' said the channel. 'This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the wing broke off at the moment of the turn, when it is subjected to the greatest loads. More Trending 'Another indirect confirmation may be that the operation of Russian attack aircraft, whose average age reaches 40 years, is associated with a significant number of emergency situations.' The theory was backed by Ukrainian war analyst Yury Butusov, who said: 'At first it seems that it was shot down by its own pilot, the pilot of another aircraft. 'However, when viewed in slow motion, one can conclude that the Su-25's wing failed due to excessive overload and exhaustion of the attack aircraft's resources.' The Su-25 is a Soviet-designed close-air support aircraft developed by Sukhoi in the late 1970s. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: British mothers 'have to accept that their sons will have to die for Nato' MORE: Putin's dirty new war tactic revealed in grim photos MORE: Putin unleashes aerial glide bombs in 'most powerful attack of entire war' on Kharkiv
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Spanish-language misinformation on Los Angeles protests pushes a familiar theme
A surge of false or misleading posts, photographs and videos about the Los Angeles protests have been circulating on social media, with many of those shared among Latinos — mostly in Spanish — tying the protesters to socialist or communist governments. One post on X with over 600,000 views claims that in the U.S., immigration protest groups have links to 'the Venezuelan mafia,' the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Morena Party, the left-wing ruling party of Mexico. But the post doesn't specify any groups and doesn't give evidence of this. The narrative echoes similar falsehoods that circulated during the 2020 George Floyd protests and the 2024 pro-Palestinian student protests on university campuses. Parts of Los Angeles and other cities across the country have seen protests against immigration raids as President Donald Trump's administration enforces a hard-line immigration policy. Dramatic scenes where cars, including Waymo taxis, were set on fire and protesters confronted law enforcement by throwing objects at them have filled social media feeds. While some far-left groups have encouraged and even glorified violence in the protests, the onslaught of posts, mostly in Spanish, appears to be an attempt to link protests against immigrant raids to leftist Latin American governments, and the posts show support for President Donald Trump and his policies. 'Though there is always inaccurate information swirling around, there has certainly been a spike since the Los Angeles protests took off,' said Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, president of We Are Más, which focuses on social impact consulting. 'In the past we would find false or inaccurate information more hidden in platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp. Now it's more in the open and more easily found on social media and online publications.' The falsehoods revive prior conspiracies that the protests are a planned provocation from leftist governments and not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids. On his platform, Truth Social, Trump has baselessly claimed protesters are 'Paid Insurrectionists!' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been targets of some of the misinformation that seeks to link them to communism. A fake picture of Bass with Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro, with his arm around her has circulated on social media. The original picture showed Castro with the late activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela. Bass does have some connections to Cuba; she traveled to the country with the Venceremos Brigade in the 1970s to do volunteer construction work and later went there as a member of Congress. She received criticism in 2020 for calling Castro's death ' a great loss, ' but the fake picture is a step further to link her directly with Fidel Castro. 'What we're seeing in Spanish is different from what we're seeing in English,' said Pérez-Verdía. In Spanish, she added, the false information is mainly focused on elected officials, like Newsom and Bass. 'They talk about the extreme left, communism — actors, whether domestic or foreign, are changing the messaging based on the community they are targeting,' said Pérez-Verdía. In some cases, false information has made its way to the federal government. Some conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts have circulated a video of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum from before the protests, claiming she encouraged them, according to Newsguard, a fact-checking website. The move was 'portrayed as foreign interference in domestic U.S. politics,' Newsguard reported. During an oval office briefing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum of encouraging 'violent protests.' Sheinbaum responded on X, saying it's 'absolutely false' and included a video of herself from the day before saying she does not agree with violent actions as a form of protest. She also accused the opposition party of falsely saying she incited the protests. In some cases, videos and photos that include a hammer and sickle, are taken out of context to make it seem the protests are a communist movement. One post with tens of thousands of views claims that the protests are 'URBAN COMMUNIST TERRORISM.' One Spanish-language post from an account with over 1 million followers glorifies violence against 'progressive anti-ICE protestors.' Situations like these create fertile ground for disinformation to spread. Fake accounts in Spanish are more prevalent than they are in English, according to Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University and co-director of its Media Forensic Hub. Social media platforms are more likely to identify and shut down accounts in English than in other languages. Linvill said that another reason accounts in Spanish are more common than in English is that the use of marketing companies utilizing fake accounts — on behalf of political organizations or politicians — has spiked in the last few years. The spread of false information 'is absolutely having an effect on driving partisanship, conspiratorial thinking, distrust for expertise and the lack of a sort of shared reality,' said Linvill. 'A shared reality is important for us to build compromise and govern nations together. And I think it is absolutely having an effect on that.' 'The degree to which motivated actors [bad actors], are responsible, versus the fundamental nature of social media to create a giant game of telephone that virtually generates the spread of false information, it's hard to say,' Linvill said.
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Zelensky warns oil price surge could help Russia's war effort in Ukraine
The Ukrainian president told journalists in Kyiv that the surge in oil prices threatens Ukraine's position on the battlefield, especially because western allies have not enforced effective price caps on Russian oil exports. 'The strikes led to a sharp increase in the price of oil, which is negative for us,' Mr Zelensky said. 'The Russians are getting stronger due to greater income from oil exports.' Global oil prices rose as much as 7% after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks over the past 48 hours, raising concerns that further escalation could disrupt oil exports from the Middle East. Mr Zelensky said he planned to raise the issue in a conversation with US President Donald Trump. 'In the near future, I will be in contact with the American side, I think with the president, and we will raise this issue,' he said. He also expressed concern that US military aid could be diverted away from Ukraine towards Israel during renewed tensions in the Middle East. 'We would like aid to Ukraine not to decrease because of this,' he said. 'Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.' Ukraine's military needs have been sidelined by the US in favour of supporting Israel, Mr Zelensky said, citing a shipment of 20,000 interceptor missiles, designed to counter Iran-made Shahed drones, which had been intended for Ukraine but were redirected to Israel. 'And for us it was a blow,' he said. 'When you face 300 to 400 drones a day, most are shot down or go off course, but some get through. We were counting on those missiles.' An air defence system, Barak-8, promised to Ukraine by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu was sent to the US for repairs but never delivered to Ukraine, he added. The Ukrainian president conceded that momentum for the Coalition of the Willing, a group of 31 countries which have pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, has slowed because of US ambivalence over providing a backstop. 'This situation has shown that Europe has not yet decided for itself that it will be with Ukraine completely if America is not there,' he said. The offer of a foreign troop 'reassurance force' pledged by the coalition is still on the table 'but they need a backstop, as they say, from America' Mr Zelensky said. 'This means that suddenly, if something happens, America will be with them and with Ukraine.' The Ukrainian president also said the presence of foreign contingents in Ukraine would act as a security guarantee and allow Kyiv to make territorial compromises, which is the first time he has articulated a link between the reassurance force and concessions Kyiv is willing to make in negotiations with Russia. 'It is simply that their presence gives us the opportunity to compromise, when we can say that today our state does not have the strength to take our territories within the borders of 1991,' he said. But Europe and Ukraine are still waiting on strong signals from Mr Trump. Without major US sanctions against Russia, 'I will tell you frankly, it will be very difficult for us', Mr Zelensky said, adding that it would then fall on Europe to step up military aid to Ukraine. In other developments, Russia repatriated more bodies of fallen soldiers in line with an agreement reached during peace talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Russian officials said on Saturday, cited by Russian state media. The officials said Ukraine did not return any bodies to Russia on Saturday. Ukraine's Co-ordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed in a statement that Russia had returned 1,200 bodies. Ukraine and Russia also exchanged another group of ill and severely wounded servicemen on Saturday, officials from both countries said, although they did not report the numbers. Mr Zelensky said in a post on X that the Ukrainian servicemen who returned were members of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service and the State Transport Special Service. The first round of the staggered exchanges took place on Monday. The agreement to exchange prisoners of war and the bodies of soldiers was the only tangible outcome of the talks in Istanbul on June 2. Continuing a renewed battlefield push along eastern and north-eastern parts of the 600-mile front line, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed on Saturday that its troops had captured another village in the Donetsk region, Zelenyi Kut. Russia launched 58 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said its air defences destroyed 23 drones while another 20 were jammed. Russia's Defence Ministry said it shot down 66 Ukrainian drones overnight.
