Romanian voters will cast their ballots in a do-over of the Romanian presidential election with far-right candidate, George Simion, leading opinion polls.
With a month to go until the May 4 first round of Romania’s presidential election, campaigning officially began on Friday that will be closely watched after the December vote was annulled and the frontrunner was barred from running again.
Pro-Russia conspiracy theorist Calin Georgescu claimed an improbably victory in the first round of the race, going from low single digits to 22% of the vote.
The Constitutional Court canceled the election after intelligence reports of Russian interference to promote Georgescu. Moscow has denied meddling in the vote.
After Georgescu was disqualified from standing in the re-do, the far-right have thrown their support behind George Simion, leader of the opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR).
Eleven candidates are competing in the race, four of which are independent. Centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, Crin Antonescu, rhe pro-EU coalition government’s candidate and former Premier Victor Ponta are standing.
Polls put Dan at 20%, Antonescu at 19% and Ponta at 15%.
The unprecedented decision to cancel the poll two days before the scheduled 8 December runoff plunged the EU and NATO member country into the most serious political crisi of decades.
The cancellation drew criticism from US Vice President JD Vance, tech billionaire Elon Musk, and Moscow.
Romania’s top security council declassified documents in December that showed the country being targeted by “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period, including a huge campaign on social media from fake accounts to promote Georgescu.
Romanian prosecutors have indicted him of “incitement to actions against the constitutional order,” supporting fascist groups and false declarations of electoral campaign funding and asset disclosures. Georgescu has denied any wrongdoing.
Business as usual between Romania and US after foreign ministers meet at NATO meeting in Brussels
