The right -wing candidate wins the Romania election: the departure polls

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Roula Khalaf, publisher of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The right -wing leader George Simion has won the first round of Romania’s presidential choiceAccording to the departure surveys, he will face one of the two Pro-UE centrists in the runoff on May 18.

Simion won 33 percent seconds a departure survey for curses, with Crin Antonecescu, the three -party candidate for three percent parties, 23 percent.

A second departure survey of Avangarde also put Simion at the helm of 33 percent, but said that Antonescu was the neck and neck with Nicușor Dan, the liberal and independent mayor of the Bucharest capital, 23 percent.

It The vote was Rerun After the victory of the ultranationalist politician Călin Georgescu in the first round of November was annulled by the Constitutional Court Russian interference allegations. Subsequently, Georgescu, an ally of Simion, was banned from putting in the new vote.

The administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, was criticized by the cancellation of the November result, with the Vice President JD Vance, who said he was an example of the liberal elite of Europe that did not defend democratic freedoms.

On Sunday, the provisional results are expected to be, with an end point that will be announced on Monday morning.

The popular support By SimionLeader of the Aur Nationalist Party, whose campaign was endorsed by Georgescu, is another sign of the deep disenchantment of Romanian voters with the main political elites, who have shared power since the end of communism.

Simion, a Populist Pro-Trump, told the FT on Sunday that if the elected president would try to return to Georgescu to a leadership position to reflect his popularity.

“In a democracy, let people decide,” Simion said. “So, as president, I can change members of the Constitutional Court, the members of the secret services, so I can secure the fair election and I can be a mediator to find the majority in Parliament. This is the way we may think that we have it as Prime Minister.”

It is expected that Simion’s second round rival tries to form an alliance of all the main forces to defeat Simion, but he can fight to do so.

“I’m not too worried about this alliance,” Simion said. “This is just a smoke bomb, a deviation (from the fact) that I am not the extremist, the hooligan, the isolation that they represent me.”

Georgescu had surveyed more than 40 percent before it was forbidden to run again in March. In a unit show, the two men threw their ballots into a bucarest suburb, where some followers sang pro-Georgescu slogans.

The cancellation pushed Romania to a political crisis in a sensitive moment. His perspective of credit rating has recently been reduced by Moody’s negative. It is in a great need for reforms, as it struggles to deal with the highest EU budget deficit.

One of the main collaborators of NATO efforts to contain Russian maneuvers in the Black Sea region, Romania is an important way for Ukraine exports and has also offered military help for his neighbor.

As the voting was proceeded on Sunday, a group of Russian hackers claimed to have closed the websites of several government ministries and the Antonecu campaign page. But the Denial of Service attack was quickly, the National Cybersecurity Center said in a statement.