Romania's presidential race: Simion, Antonescu, and Dan lead the charge
World
Romania's presidential race: Simion, Antonescu, and Dan lead the charge
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanians voted on Sunday for the first round of a closely contested presidential election.
While results are expected later in the evening, exit polls showed George Simion, Crin Antonescu, and Nicusor Dan are expected to lead, paving the way for a likely run-off between the two top candidates on May 18.
The presidency holds significant influence over foreign policy and defense spending, making the contest among Simion, Antonescu, and Dan especially pivotal for Romania's future direction.
GEORGE SIMION
The 38-year-old leader of the radical right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) leads in opinion polls.
He opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of the European Union's leadership and supports U.S. President Donald Trump.
He has called for restoring Romania to its 1940 borders, which include territories now in Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, and is banned from entering the latter two.
Simion has grown his AUR party from a fringe anti-vaccination group during the COVID pandemic into Romania's second-largest party in just six years, appealing to the working-class diaspora and young voters and building on popular anger with mainstream politicians.
A conservative Christian, he supported a failed 2018 referendum to change Romania's constitution to prevent same-sex couples from ever being able to marry.
Election authorities are looking into his campaign funding after he reported zero funds spent on online promotion despite evidence of paid content on social media platforms.
He is also under investigation for inciting people to violence after saying election officials who have banned from standing again the far-right frontrunner of the initial presidential election which was canceled five months ago should be skinned, a statement he later said he did not mean.
