CNN
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Right-right nationalists are preferred to win the Romanian presidential election leak on Sunday. The vote took place five months after the original election was overturned.
George Simion won 41% of the votes cast in the first round of the May 4th rerun. It doubled the number of his rival, Nixon Dunn, the central mayor of Bucharest.
Many see him as occupying the mantle of Karin Georgik, an obscure supernationalist who came from anywhere to win his first round and was poised to become Romania’s next president. Georgek was banned from re-runs in May after being charged with various crimes, including the establishment of a fascist group.
Simion and Georjuk appeared together at the polling station on May 4th, gaining the right to vote at the polling station, saying, “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.”
The first round lead under Simion’s command meant that Sunday’s spill would appear to be a cor crown. But after beating Simion in a TV debate, Dan may have closed the gap. In Tuesday’s poll, two candidates led 48% of the necks and necks, respectively.
The results could have great consequences for Romania and the European Union, with Dan pledging to keep the Eastern European country on a Western trajectory, and Simion wants to join the axis of hard-hitting populist growing at the Ukrainian border.
Along with Hungary’s Victor Orban and Slovak’s Robert Fico, the self-styled “sovereign” who is told what Brussels should do, alongside Hungary’s Victor Orban and Slovak’s Robert Fico, the self-styled “sovereign” who is told what Brussels should do, could further slow Simion’s decision to aid Kiyikh and Moscow.
Oana Popeszamfeel, director of the Global Focus Centre, a think tank in Bucharest, said last year’s cancelled elections cast a major shadow over the rerun.
“It helped strengthen the narrative of the system trying to equip elections for sovereign camps. We put candidates on defense for democratic camps,” she told CNN.
An extraordinary decision requires extraordinary explanations, but Romanian authorities did little to justify the cancellation of the election. To this information, Vacuum poured conspiracy, rage and US Vice President J.D. Vance. In his fierce speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance picked out Romania as the worst case of Europe’s “insider threat,” which he described as “a European retreat from some of the most fundamental values” in terms of democracy and freedom of speech.
The Trump administration’s focus on Romania helped to create a celebrity for Georgik’s cause. This provided fertile ground for Simion, who continues to put the world of Magazine on trial.
“Hello to all of our friends at Maga,” Simion said Thursday on a “Warroom” podcast hosted by former Trump advisor and longtime international populist cheerleader Steve Bannon. “If everything goes well,” Simion said, he said that Georgek will “return to Romanian leadership.”
Since his first victory, Simion spent much time outside of Romania, travelling to Austria, Italy, Poland, Belgium, France and the UK.
According to Corneliu Byora, a professor of digital diplomacy at Oxford University and a Romanian politics expert, he has two strategies.
First, Simion is looking for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as the audience, a prominent figure on the fierce right side of Europe, Orban, as he hopes to “establish a presidential profile,” Byra told CNN.
Secondly, he is about to mobilize the Romanian diaspora. This is one of the largest countries in the world. While mainstream parties have usually treated millions of Romanians living abroad as an afterthought, Bjola said Simion made them a central part of his campaign. Approximately 60% of the diaspora voted for Simion in the first round.
Thanks to the more liberal Moldova Vandiaspora vote in November, Romanians living abroad tended to vote for “anti-system candidates,” unlike nearby Moldova, where Proeu’s Maiasandu won for the second time, Bjola said. He explained that many Romanians who left the country after joining the EU in 2007 are responsive to having to do so, seeking better paying jobs abroad.
Still, it’s “inexplicable” given how hostile Simion to the EU is, Bjola added. “If he manages to implement some of his agenda, it will make life even more difficult for the diaspora.”
Simion’s opponent Dan is also like an anti-system candidate. A quiet mathematician with a long history of civic activists, Dan runs as an independent pledge that pledges to end the corruption of Romanian institutions. His simple pledge to restore “capacity” to the government is considered radical by many.
While Simion courted the diaspora, Dan gained great support in Romanian cities. Many of them are filled with EU flags at a support show on a recent night.
Despite being heavily relegated by the first round of votes, Dan’s campaign gained momentum while his rival campaigns uttered. Simion supports his pledge to build an apartment for one million people and sell it for 35,000 euros ($39,000) each, acknowledging it as a marketing ploy to “break the information blockade” in his party, the Roman Union.
The Simion campaign suffered once again last week after it turned out to be the only debate between the two candidates. Simion then avoided facing Dan in other scheduled television debates, and while Dan focused on social media, Dan made the pitch on Romanian television.
“His team is trying to keep him as far away from the public as possible,” Popescu-Zamfir said. Simion prefers Tiktok. Because it is “controlled communication, but standing side by side in the discussion, you can see the contrast,” she said.
Investors were worried about Simion’s victory prospects. After the first round of votes, the authorities had to cancel the bond auction, and its central bank sold its foreign exchange reserves, slowing down the slide of Romanian Lou against the euro.
Analysts warn that Simion’s victory this weekend could lead to a much more dramatic financial tremor on Monday.
Bjola says the economy is not the only concern. He says there is a “fear” in Bucharest that he has not felt in decades since the collapse of bloody communist dictator Nicolae Seaus.
After Georgek was banned from running, Simion said the authorities who made the decision “should live in public squares.” Georgek’s supporters clashed with police in the capital that night.
Simion is beginning to build a potential obstacle position if he can’t win on Sunday, observers say.
“We won in the landslide,” he told Jack Posoviek, an American far-right conspiracy theorist and podcast host. “The only thing that can stop us is some of the people who disrupt the voting process,” he said.
