Romania nationalist George Simion, a Trump fan, wins first round of presidential vote

George Simion, a nationalist ally of US President Donald Trump, took a commanding lead on Sunday in the first round of Romania’s closely watched presidential election, riding a wave of anger after an earlier election was annulled over allegations of foreign interference. 

Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, was far outpacing all other candidates in the polls with 40% of the vote, official electoral data showed after 99% of votes were counted from Sunday's vote.  

Far behind in second place was Bucharest’s pro-EU mayor Nicusor Dan with 20.9%, and in third place the governing coalition’s joint candidate, Crin Antonescu, with 20.3% – a gap that was expected to widen as the last votes from larger cities were counted. 

In all, 11 presidential hopefuls were vying for the post, a semi-executive role that carries considerable powers in national security and foreign policy. A runoff will be held on May 18 between the top two candidates, with Simion carrying all the momentum on the back of his first-round success. 

The result – which comes months after a top court voided a November 24 vote – could potentially herald a foreign policy shift in the EU country of 19 million, which has become a key pillar of NATO since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

“Together we made history today,” Simion said in a video message broadcast at his party's headquarters as euphoric supporters chanted, “Out with the thieves, let patriots come”. 

“I am here to restore constitutional order,” the nationalist leader added. “I have a single objective: to give back to the Romanian people what was taken from them.” 

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Romania's 'MAGA President' 

The rerun was held after Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which far-right outsider Calin Georgescu emerged from nowhere to top the first round. 

Georgescu was barred after authorities noted a massive TikTok campaign in his favour and issued claims of Russian interference, which Moscow has denied. He was replaced by 38-year-old Simion, who rode a wave of popular outrage at the vote’s annulment. 

A Trump fan, Simion often dons a cap with the US president's slogan “Make America Great Again” and said he hopes to become Romania's “MAGA president”. 

“We are here with a single mission: to return to democracy – and bring justice to Romania,” he said after casting his ballot on Sunday, accompanied by Georgescu, whom he has promised to appoint in his administration if he is elected president.   

“It's time to take our country back,” Georgescu added at the polling station in Mogosoaia, on the outskirts of Bucharest. 

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Simion has largely campaigned online, partly in a bid to woo Romania's influential overseas voters. While describing himself as “more moderate” than Georgescu, he shares his aversion to what he calls “Brussels’ unelected bureaucrats”. 

Simion accuses EU officials of having meddled in Romania's elections and has vowed to restore his country's “dignity” within the bloc. While frequently denouncing Russia, he opposes sending military aid to Ukraine and wants Romania to reduce support for Ukrainian refugees. 

His campaign found favour with 36-year-old voter Rares Ghiorghies, who hoped a Simion presidency would see Romania “return to the basic principles of democracy”. 

“What happened in December 2024 is definitely a dark chapter in the history of this country, and we can no longer accept it,” Ghiorghies told AP. “I’m hoping things will get back to normal.” 

Crossroads

The election rerun is a crossroads moment for Romania as it seeks to restore its democracy and retain its geopolitical alliances, which have become strained since the canceled election fiasco.  

The decision to annul the election and the ban on Georgescu’s candidacy drew criticism from US Vice President JD Vance, who has lectured EU leaders on freedom of speech even as his administration cracks down on dissent. Washington took the rare step of sending observers to monitor the Romanian election on Sunday. 

In the run-up to the vote, authorities stepped up preventive measures as well as cooperation with TikTok, saying they were committed to “fair and transparent” elections. While the far right alleged “multiple signs of fraud”, the government pointed to various disinformation campaigns it said were “new attempts at manipulation and interference by state actors”. 

Simion’s stunning win on Sunday has now left voters with a stark choice ahead of the May 18 runoff. 

Dan, the pro-Europe mayor of Bucharest, cast the runoff as a battle between a pro-Western direction for Romania, which he represents, and an anti-Western one, in his first remarks after the opening round.

“It’s our task to convince Romanians that Romania needs the pro-Western direction and our campaign will be focused on that in the next two weeks,” he said early Monday.

Analysts say the centrist candidate would struggle to defeat Simion due to his lack of support in rural areas and his bitter relations with mainstream parties, which could prevent them from rallying behind him to hold off the far right. On the other hand, Dan’s independent, anti-corruption platform means he is less exposed to the far right’s anti-establishment rhetoric.  

“What’s at play is whether Romania will continue down the democratic, European path it has taken for the past two decades, both in terms of democratic standards and its two foreign policy pillars of NATO and the European Union,” said Oana Popescu, director of the GlobalFocus Centre, a think tank based in Bucharest. 

The alternative, Popescu added, would see Romania adopt “a much more ambiguous foreign policy that is more amenable to pressure from the Trump administration, which very much matches the interests of the Kremlin.”  

A Simion victory would isolate the country, erode private investment and destabilise NATO's eastern flank, observers say. It would also expand a cohort of eurosceptic leaders in the EU that already includes the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers at a time when Europe is struggling to formulate its response to Trump. 

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, Reuters)