Romanian election favorite Simion will try to be like Orban and Fico – analyst

The winner of the first round of the presidential election in Romania, Gheorghe Simion, will try to emulate the Prime Ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orban and Robert Fico, Romanian analyst and president of Expert Forum (Bucharest) Sorin Ionita told LIGA.net.

According to the expert, Simion sympathizes with authoritarian regimes and will try to be like Orban and Fico.

At the same time, it is difficult to predict whether Simion's position on Ukraine will be consistent: the politician is a supporter of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who supports Ukraine, and wants to be part of the relevant right-wing European political forces.

It is also likely that Simeon will have to compromise with the parliament, which is hostile to him and may block his actions.

Read more about the favorite of the Romanian elections and the possible consequences for Ukraine in the large text of LIGA.net.

• The first round of the presidential election in Romania took place on May 4: pro-Russian Simion and pro-Ukrainian independent candidate Dan advanced to the second round. The second round of the election is scheduled for May 18.

• On election day, Simeon declared that if he won, he would give the leadership position to his pro-Russian ally Georgescu.

• On May 5, Romanian Prime Minister Çolacu resigned after the ruling coalition's candidate performed poorly in the presidential election.