Right-wing nationalist candidate wins first round of voting in Romania's Presidential election
The 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity Romanian party earned 40.5% of the vote yesterday. Bucharest's mayor Nicusor Dan and the coalition's joint candidate Crin Antonescu were trailing with 20.9% and 20.3% respectively.
Antonescu conceded defeat, saying he believes it is an 'irreversible result'. Eleven candidates vied for the presidency and a runoff will be held on 18 May between the top two candidates.
By the time polls closed last night, about 9.57 million people — or 53.2% of eligible voters — had cast their ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with 973,000 votes cast at polling stations set up in other countries.
Advertisement
The rerun was held after a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.
In a pre-recorded speech aired after polls closed, Simion said that despite many obstacles, Romanians 'have risen up' and 'we are approaching an exceptional result.'
'I am here to restore constitutional order,' said Simion, who came fourth in last year's race and later backed Georgescu.
'I want democracy, I want normalcy, and I have a single objective: to give back to the Romanian people what was taken from them and to place at the centre of decision-making the ordinary, honest, dignified people.'
The presidential role carries a five-year term and significant decision-making powers in national security and foreign policy.
The decision to annul the election and the ban on Georgescu's candidacy drew criticism from US vice president JD Vance, Elon Musk and Russia, which publicly supported his candidacy in the rerun.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Examiner
33 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
There can be no peace deal without input from Ukraine, says Tánaiste
Any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine which does not include the latter will "lack credibility", the Tánaiste has said. Simon Harris joined EU foreign ministers on a virtual meeting on Monday ahead of a summit in Alaska on Friday between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Mr Trump suggesting that a peace deal could include 'some swapping of territories'. European leaders, however, see no sign that Russia will offer anything to swap. Speaking at Government Buildings, Mr Harris said there can be no peace deal without Ukrainian input and that its territorial integrity must be maintained. Mr Harris said the meeting had heard from the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister, who "reiterated what has been the long standing view of the President of Ukraine, the government of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine, that they want an end to the war but they want to be involved in the peace discussions and peace negotiations". "Any sort of peace talks, or so called peace talks, that don't have Ukraine present really lack credibility," he said. "At a European level, I know we're very eager over the coming days to continue engagement between the European Union and the United States of America about the importance of involving Ukraine in any discussions about peace. "Everybody wants to see this war come to an end. But of course, how peace is made also matters, and Ukraine's territorial integrity matters. Ukraine's sovereignty matters, and European security matters as well." Mr Harris said it is important to avoid a "Putin trap" of attempting to sow division in Europe while not actually wanting peace. In 2022, Russia illegally annexed the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine's east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, even though it does not fully control them. It also occupies the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.


Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Trump says Ukraine, Russia will have to swap some land for peace
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that both Ukraine and Russia would have to cede land to each other to end the war and that his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be aimed at taking the temperature on a possible deal. Trump told a White House press conference that his talks on Friday with Putin in Alaska would be a "feel-out meeting" to determine whether Putin was willing to make a deal. He said he could know within two minutes whether progress was possible. "So I'm going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I'm going to be telling him, you've got to end this war. You've got to end it," Trump told reporters. Trump also said a future meeting could include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and could end up being a three-way session including himself and Putin. He said he would speak to European leaders soon after his talks with Putin and that his goal was a speedy ceasefire in the bloody conflict. Trump has in the past talked about land swaps but neither Russia nor Ukraine have been interested in ceding land to each other as part of a peace deal. Europeans worry that major concessions to Russia could create security problems for the West in the future. Ukraine has sought to push back Russian invaders ever since the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War Two began in February 2022. Russia justifies the war on the grounds of what it calls threats to its security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine holds barely any Russian territory. Trump said: "There'll be some land swapping going on." "I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine," he said. He said Russia had occupied some "very prime territory" but that "we're going to try to get some of that territory back".


RTÉ News
10 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Ukraine reaction to Trump-Putin talks
Yuri Sak, Former Advisor to Ukrainian Minister of Defence, outlines the reaction in Ukraine, ahead of the meeting of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.