Populist-sovereigntist candidate George Simion appears to have come out on top in the first round of voting in the Romanian presidential election on Sunday. The election was held after the previous election was annulled, and the leading candidate was barred from running in the redo contest.
Exit polls have indicated that George Simion, the leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), won the first round of the two-round Romanian presidential election. The Avangarde pollster estimates that the populist candidate won 30 per cent of the vote.
Simion was followed by his neo-liberal, pro-Brussels opponents, acting President of Romania Crin Antonescu and Mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan, both of whom are projected to have won 23 per cent of the vote, Romanian news outlet Digi24 reports.
A separate exit poll from CURS put Simion at 33.1 per cent of the vote, followed by Antonescu at 22.9 per cent, and Dan with 20.9 per cent.
Simion hailed the exit polls as “an exceptional result” and added: “You are victorious. Today the Romanian people spoke. It’s time to be heard, despite the obstacles, despite the manipulations… Romanians stood up.”
However, given that no candidate secured a majority of the vote, Romanians will head back to the polls on May 18th for a runoff election between the leading two candidates of the first round.
The campaign has been mired in controversy, with the previous election being cancelled after the first round saw populist insurgent candidate Călin Georgescu securing a surprise victory in the first round of voting in November over alleged Russian interference on behalf of the anti-Ukraine war candidate. Supporters of Georgescu accused Brussels of meddling in the Romanian election to block the Eurosceptic frontrunner from becoming the next president.
In February, Georgescu was arrested over accusations of having committed “incitement to actions against the constitutional order,” the “communication of false information,” making “false statements”, and the “initiation or establishment of an organisation with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character”.
The following month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau ruled that Georgescu be barred from standing again for the presidency, accusing him of failing to “respect the rules of the electoral procedure” and having “violated the obligation to defend democracy.”
On Sunday, Georgescu appeared with Simion at the ballot box in Bucharest. While he said that he did not accept the “fraud” of an election, he came to show his support for “the power of democracy, the power of voting that scares the system, that terrifies the system.”
For his part, Simion said that he did not vote for himself, but rather for his banned ally, saying: “Christ is risen! I voted with Călin Georgescu. We are here with only one mission: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy.
“I have no other objective than first place for the Romanian people, for whom I serve. We are here with the people and for the Romanian people. We are here with one desire, to do justice for Romania.”
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on the sidelines of his recent trip to Washington, where he met with conservative allies of President Donald Trump, Simion vowed to be an ally of the American administration if he is elected as President of Romania.
“I am the only one who has channels to the Trump administration. The Trump administration doesn’t want to talk with our public government selected by Brussels. Yes, America would be our main focus and key strategic partner. We are the natural partners and we are ideologically the same with the MAGA movement. You can consider me a MAGA candidate—the only MAGA candidate in the Romanian election,” he told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle.
Simion said that the election is not about him, however, but rather about “continuing this sovereigntist movement” started by Călin Georgescu, saying: “I’m his replacement. People are upset and they want their president back. Their president is Georgescu and we will bring him to power through these elections and all the means that is necessary.”
The AUR leader went on to compare the current struggle against the globalism of Brussels to Romania’s fight against the communist oppression of the Soviet Union.
“The ideals of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 will be transformed into reality. People died hoping that we have free elections, democracy, and freedom. We forgot about this. It turns out the fight continues for freedom and all of our lives. You must fight generation to generation, and you must win. So this is what we are doing right now.”
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