George Simion, the leader of the far-right party, Alliance for the Unification of Romania, has won the first round of the presidential elections in the Romanian presidential elections with up to 40.7% of the vote. The election was held again after the previous winner of the elections, Calin Georgescu, was arrested and investigated over the Russian financing and backing of his political campaign. His ban from contesting elections was subsequently confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
George Simion’s runner up is the mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, with 26.1% of the vote. They will face each other in a runoff on May 18th. Nicusor Dan is a mathematician and a centre-right politician who contested as an independent candidate.
In third position came Crin Antonescu, the previous head of the National Liebral Party, with up 20.6% of the vote. Victor Ponta of the social-democrats came fourth up to 13.6% of the vote,
Elena Lasconi, who previously came second in the previous election, and was to face-off Georgescu in the second-round, came fourth with just 2.7% of the vote.
Support for George Simion surged after Calin Georgescu was arrested. Simion is being considered as Georgescu’s successor. Georgescu previously gained up to 23% of the vote and Lasconi trailed him with 19%. The increase in votes to the far-right also seems to have been bumped up by the Romanian diaspora.
Interview below by the German Broadcaster, Deustche Welle.
Newsroom
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