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Pro-EU centrist Nicuşor Dan was on course to become Romania’s president on Sunday, according to exit polls, leading a run-off against an ultranationalist Eurosceptic who had topped the first round and raised fears about the country’s pro-western orientation.
Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and mayor of the capital Bucharest, was set to win with more than 54 per cent of the vote compared with around 45 per cent for George Simion, a former football hooligan turned leader of the far-right AUR party, according to pollsters CURS and Avangarde.
“Elections are not about politicians, they are about communities. And the community that won today wants profound changes,” Dan said to cheering crowds. He acknowledged the anger of the “community who lost”, promising reforms to fight corruption and improve the rule of law.
“It is our task to fight for one Romania, not two.”
At nearly 65 per cent, a high turnout seems to have tipped the balance in favour of Dan, who had received just 21 per cent of the votes cast in the first round, nearly half of Simion’s total. Romanians mobilised to prevent what many saw as the threat of their country turning its back on Nato, the EU and Ukraine.
Analysts warned that the exit polls do not take into account the more than 1.6mn voters abroad who cast their ballots. In the first round, Simion won nearly 600,000 diaspora votes, while Dan secured 250,000.
Simion on Sunday claimed to have secured a “clear victory” on behalf of the Romanian people and said he still had faith in every vote being counted correctly.
Simion soared to pole position on the back of voter anger at authorities annulling the presidential election last year due to alleged Russian interference in favour of another ultranationalist candidate, Călin Georgescu, who had surprisingly topped the first round vote in November.
Georgescu was barred from running again but endorsed Simion, who said he would make Georgescu prime minister if he won.
Simion claimed that his victory was also Georgescu’s, saying his ally “should have been president and is the president of Romania. I want to reassure Romanians I will keep my word and he will come to power.”
The cancelled vote and Simion’s first-round win triggered a political and economic crisis, with the prime minister resigning, the leu currency’s value nosediving and the country struggling to raise debt on international markets.
Romania has the highest budget deficit in the EU and is just one notch above junk status according to all the major rating agencies. Analysts have warned of difficult times ahead for the next president who will have to appoint a new prime minister to oversee quick reforms and avoid losing investor-grade status and access to EU funds.
In Bucharest, Dan voters were elated, cheering while draped in EU flags and chanting “Nicuşor” and “Europe”.
“I am thrilled, today we have shown that Romania is still a country that is fully committed to Nato and the European Union,” said Ianis Turcu, a history student.
Ana Iliescu, a data analyst, said she felt “so relieved” because her country avoided electing someone who she believes is a pro-Russian as president.
Costin Ciobanu, a researcher at Aarhus University, said: “This is a great moment for Romanian democracy. Voters turned out in high numbers, both at home and abroad, reaffirming their trust in the electoral process.”
Dan’s victory, if upheld in the final results, was “one of the most remarkable comebacks” for moderate political forces in Romania’s modern political history, Ciobanu said.
Voters opted for “a steady course of change rather than a radical or vindictive alternative”.
Simion alarmed many voters with his “erratic behaviour” after his first-round win and “statements that raised questions about his democratic commitment”, according to Ciobanu.
“Over the past two weeks, voters had time to imagine what a Simion presidency might look like — and many clearly rejected that prospect.”
