Pro-Europe mayor triumphs in crucial vote which could decide Romania's path
The pro-European Union candidate in Romania's critical presidential runoff has won the closely watched race against a hard-right nationalist, nearly complete electoral data shows, in a tense election rerun that many viewed as a geopolitical choice between East or West.
The race pitted front-runner George Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, against incumbent Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.
It was held months after the cancellation of the previous election plunged Romania into its worst political crisis in decades.
After 10.5 million of 11.6 million votes had been counted, Mr Dan was ahead with 54.32%, while votes for Mr Simion stood at 45.68%, according to official data.
Presidential candidate Nicusor Dan speaks to the media in Bucharest (Andreea Alexandru/AP)
When voting closed at 9pm (1900 UK time), official electoral data showed a 64% voter turnout.
About 1.64 million Romanians abroad, who have been able to vote since Friday at specially set-up polling stations, participated in the vote.
After polls closed on Sunday, Mr Dan told the media that 'elections are not about politicians' but about communities and that in Sunday's vote, 'a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania'.
'When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,' he said. 'There is also a community that lost today's elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.'
Presidential candidate George Simion grimaces as he speaks with the media (Andreea Alexandru/AP)
Turnout was significantly higher in Sunday's runoff and is expected to play a decisive role in the outcome. In the first round on May 4, final turnout stood at 9.5 million, or 53% of eligible voters.
Romania's political landscape was upended last year when a top court voided the previous election in which far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped first-round polls, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow denied.
Standing on the steps of Romania's colossal Communist-era parliament building after polls closed, Mr Simion predicted a significant victory over his opponent, which he called a 'victory of the Romanian people'.
Mr Simion said that Mr Georgescu was 'supposed to be the president' before last year's election was annulled. He also called for vigilance against election fraud, but said that overall he was satisfied with the conduct of the vote.
Shortly after 6pm, Romania's ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Andrei Tarnea said in a post on X that the election was subject to a 'viral campaign of fake news' on the Telegram messaging app and other social media platforms, which tried to influence the electoral process and had 'the hallmarks of Russian interference'.
Networks of co-ordinated disinformation have emerged as a pervasive force throughout Romania's entire election cycle. Romanian authorities debunked the deluge of fake news, Mr Tarnea said.
Mr Simion appeared alongside Mr Georgescu at a Bucharest polling station on Sunday and told reporters that he voted against the 'humiliations to which our sisters and brothers have been subjected'.
'We voted against abuses and against poverty,' he said. 'I voted for our future to be decided only by Romanians, for Romanians and Romania. So help us God.'
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