Romanians on Sunday headed to the polls for the first round of the country’s presidential elections in which anti-European candidates could test Romania’s commitment to the European Union and NATO.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and a nationalist head the field of 13 candidates, at a critical time for the southeastern EU nation amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine raging at its border.
At stake is Romania’s solid commitment to the EU, with a win for hard-right candidate George Simion and his party in December 1 parliamentary elections would shift the bloc further to the right, part of a wider trend of EU states moving toward hard-right politics.
Despite a patchy record of endemic corruption, Bucharest has long been viewed as a reliable NATO partner and EU stalwart in the region.
Mr. Simion, who has agitated for unification between Romania and Moldova has been accused of being an agent for the Kremlin and has been declared a persona non grata by the pro-European governments in Chisinau and Kyiv. He denies being a Russian spy.
Mr Ciolacu, has vowed to remain loyal to NATO and work to reform the EU from the inside if elected. The Social Democrat’s European credentials are more shaky than the outgoing President Klaus Iohannis who is stepping down after a maximum two terms.
Other candidates who could come second are former Army Chief of Staff, Nicolae Ciuca with solid pro-Atlantic credentials and Elena Lasconi, a reformist candidate.
Simion’s AUR party emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic on an anti-vaccine platform. The party has also been rebuked after in 2022, it called mandatory Holocaust education in Romanian schools a “minor topic”.
If Mr.Simion makes it to the second round, it will give traction to his party and another nationalist group, SOS,which could win 40% of the vote, analysts say.
