The first lap held in November was annulled by alleged Russian interference.
Almost 19 million Romanians are called today to repeat the vote in the presidential elections, after the annulment of the first lap held in November by alleged Russian interference, with the far right candidate to lead the polls.
The election today competes 11 candidates, being George Simion, leader of the far-right party party for the Union of Romanians (ARR, second largest force in Parliament), pointed out by polls as the favorite of victory, with about 30% of voting intentions.
In the probable scenario of no candidate being elected directly today, with more than 50% of the votes, Simion could go to the second round, scheduled for May 18, but is open who may be his rival.
Three competitors compete for second place: Crin Antonescu, supported by the government coalition; Nicusor Dan, mayor of Bucharest, which competes as an independent with the support of liberals (third largest force), and former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who resigned in 2015 after protests against corruption.
The Romanian diaspora, whose hundreds of thousands of voters clearly lea to Simion, began to vote on Friday, and data released on Saturday revealed that more than 300,000 had already voted, a number twice over than the canceled November elections.
Today’s election occurs after the Constitutional Court annulled, in an unprecedented decision, the first lap held on November 24, considering that it was manipulated due to Russian interference.
At the time, populist candidate Calin Georgescu, hitherto practically unknown, won with 23% of the votes, when the polls gave him no more than 5%.
Authorities have detected a massive campaign in favor of this candidate on social networks, particularly at Tiktok, which triggered the European Commission to the Chinese platform on suspicion of violating the integrity of Romanian elections.
Accused by the court for six crimes, including unconstitutional acts and false financial statements, Georgescu was removed from the presidential race.
Voting runs between 7:00 am and 21:00 local (minus two hours in Lisbon), but can last until 23:59 today, for citizens in line to vote at the time of the ballot box.
The European Union (EU) is following this repetition of the elections with particular attention, given the possible victory of Simion, a Euro -declared Euro -eurical of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who considers himself the “political heir” of Georgescu.
Romania, a member of the EU and NATO, located on the southeast flank of the Atlantic Alliance in Europe, on the Ukraine border, plays an important strategic role for regional stability.
The Romanian presidency has broad powers in defense and foreign policy, so the head of state has a great political weight -it is the one who represents the country on the European Council, for example -even if the government is made up of other parties.
The election campaign was dominated, as last November, by a strong activity on social networks, with millions of video views in favor and against candidates.
Romania, whose economy will grow only 1.2% this year, had the largest budget deficit of the EU last year, of 9.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which will force the government, consisting of social democrats, conservatives and the Hungarian minority, to soon apply austerity measures and to increase some taxes.
The country is marked by inequalities between social groups and different regions.
