Far-right candidate wins election in Romania
Far-right candidate Gheorghe Simion has won the first round of the Romanian presidential election with over 40% of the vote, according to the country's Central Electoral Commission, which has counted 87.90% of the ballots. Exit polls also show him winning, but by a smaller margin.
UPDATED at 00:00. 95.96% of protocols have been processed: Simion has 39.98%, while Antonescu and Dan are almost equal – 20.85% vs. 20.34%.
According to the CEC, Simion has 40.21%, with the ruling coalition candidate Crin Antonescu competing for second place with 21.19% and Nicusor Dan, an independent candidate and mayor of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, with 19.22%.
The Romanian Antena 3 CNN TV channel published the results of the polls the day before. Simion has 33.3%, Antonescu – 22.8%, and Dan – 21%, according to the CURS agency as of 9:00 p.m. (Romania is currently in the same time zone as Ukraine).
Avangarde reported at 8:00 PM that Simion has 30% support, followed by Antonesu and Dan with the same result of 23%.
What did the Romanian candidates say about Ukraine?
The front-runner, Simeon, opposes military aid to Ukraine and criticizes the European Union leadership. At the same time, he supports US President Donald Trump . On the eve of the election, he declared that Russia "is not a serious threat to NATO."
Antonescu has a more pro-Ukrainian position: in the event of his victory, the politician promised to continue supporting Ukraine "logistically and politically", but at the same time he is against sending Romanian peacekeepers.
Dan also advocates for continued support for Ukraine.
"I want to emphasize that the war in Ukraine is of crucial importance for the security of Romania and Moldova," the politician said in an interview with Reuters.
The next round of elections is scheduled for May 18.
- The first round of presidential elections was held in Romania in November 2024. Georgescu (22.95%) and the pro-European Lasconi (19.17%) advanced to the second round, which was scheduled for December 8.
- However, in December, Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense declassified secret service documents that, among other things, indicated Russian interference in favor of Georgescu. After that, the results of the first round of elections were annulled and a rerun was scheduled.
- On March 9, the Romanian Central Election Commission banned Georgescu from running in the presidential re-election. Georgescu and Simion are political allies.
- On May 2, the administration of US President Trump sent a high-ranking official to Romania to observe the controversial presidential election.