Romania Holds Repeat Presidential Elections

• 4.05.2025, 10:07

After canceling the result of the previous ones.

Romanians are voting Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that could bring far-right euroskeptic George Simion to power.

According to "European Truth".

The polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. for voting after the results of the previous first round, held in November 2024, were annulled by the Constitutional Court. Back then, the odious populist Kelin Georgescu won the first round, but the results were canceled due to social media manipulation and interference from abroad.

All 18,979 polling stations will be open until 9:00 pm. The results of the first exit polls are expected after the polls close. There are 11 candidates on the voting list.

After the official counting of votes and announcement of results by the Central Electoral Bureau, a second round of elections will be organized two weeks later, on May 18, in which the two leaders of the first round will meet.

A large group of Romanians abroad, where the eurosceptic Simion is popular, began voting on Friday. Turnout there was high.

Pre-election polls had Simion gaining about 30 percent of the vote, well below the 50 percent he needed to avoid a runoff.

Simion's main rivals are two centrists: 65-year-old former senator Crin Antonescu, who is backed by the three parties of the current pro-Western government, and 55-year-old Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, who is running as an independent candidate with an anti-corruption program. Both favor EU and NATO membership and support Ukraine.

Victor Ponta, a former leftist prime minister turned conservative nationalist, is fourth in the polls.