Romania repeats the controversial elections after previous vote

Romanians will again try to choose a new president today, six months after the first attempt in scandal and confusion.

A radical outsider with mystical tendencies, Calin Georgescu, first arrived on November 24, but that result was rejected due to accusations of campaign fraud and Russian interference.

In February, the American vice -president JD Vance Romania criticized that decision, so that shock waves were sent by a Romanian political establishment that leans heavily on his special relationship with the US. Georgescu was nevertheless excluded to participate in today’s repetition.

This election has a nationalist, George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanes (AUR), against three Centrists: the popular mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan; Crin Antonescu, a liberal that represents the ruling social-democrat and national liberal coalition; and Elena Lasconi, an independent.

Seven other candidates are on the ballot. If no more than 50% of the votes win, a run-off between the first two candidates will be held on 18 May.

“This election is not about any candidate, but about every Romanian who has been lied, ignored, humiliated and still has the power to believe and defend our identity and rights,” Simion posted on X on Friday.

Opinion polls – notoriously unreliable in Romania – suggest that he will be the first to come today and then get a tough competition with Nicusor Dan or Crin Antonescu in the Run -Off.

The result is nervous in European capitals, Washington, Kiev and Moscow. Romania is an important transit route for weapon systems and ammunition to Ukraine. The country has an American rocket department shield in thorough, and three large air bases from which NATO Air Police flies to the border of Ukraine and Moldova, and outside the Black Sea.

Ukraine exports 70% of its grain along the Black Sea, through the Romanian territorial waters to Istanbul. The Romanian navy dampens those waters and the Romanian Air Force trains Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s. The Trump government re -assesses its dedication to Romania. A Visa-Waiver agreement was abruptly canceled on the eve of the elections.

“Forget Ukraine even more help when Simion becomes president,” says George Scutaru, a security expert at the new strategy center in Bucharest. As head of the National Security Council, the president can express a veto about every decision and has a strong influence on security policy. But Scutaru expresses “careful optimism” that one of the centrists will win the Run-Off.

Public resentment in the Romanian financial support for Ukrainian refugees has been a central shelf in the Simion campaign, although he denies that he is pro-Russian.

On a Bakmay afternoon crowds of visits the gardens of the Cotroceni Palace, the presidential residence in western Bucharest. The decision of interim president Iliy Bolojan to open the buildings and gardens in front of the public is very popular with the visitors.

White and purple irises along the paths under old horse chestnuts in full flower. A military band marches between flower beds of violets and violets. The palace is a former monastery, converted in the 17th century, which became the home of the Romanian royal family in the 19th century.

“I can’t really imagine here …” Ionut, a satirical writer, tells me next to an elegant waterfall, looking at the palace walls. He voted for Simion in the first round of the elections last November, out of anger about the constant delays for the entire membership of Romania of the Schengen Free-Travel Zone. And frustration with the departing president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.

But Romania eventually joined the Schengen Landborders on January 1 and Iohannis stepped aside the same month. “Romanians are less angry now,” he believes. He told his daughter that he will vote for Nicusor in these elections, but has not completely decided.

Ana, a management adviser, who walks through the Palace Gardens with her family, also supports Nicusor. “I want to vote for both continuity and change,” she says. “Continuity in Romania’s relationship with Europe, but change in terms of corruption. We young people no longer relate to the old parties,” – something that Nicusor then has in common with Simion.

Many in the large diaspora of Romania – a million have been registered for voting – have cast all their vote, especially in Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. They are invisible in opinion polls and can easily influence the end result.