Romanians vote in a presidential redo after voided election sparked deep political crisis

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanians are casting ballots Sunday in a critical presidential election redo after last year’s annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Eleven candidates are vying for the presidency and a May 18 runoff is expected. Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT). By 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT), 1.8 million people — about 10% of eligible voters — had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with a massive 425,000 coming from voters abroad.

Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Like many countries in the EU, anti-establishment sentiment is running high in Romania, fueled by high inflation and cost of living, a large budget deficit and a sluggish economy. Observers say the malaise has bolstered support for nationalist and far-right figures like Georgescu, who is under investigation and barred from the rerun.

While data from local surveys should be taken with caution, a median of polls suggests that hard-right nationalist George Simion will enter the runoff, likely pitting him against Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, or the governing coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu.

At a polling station in the capital, Bucharest, Simion appeared Sunday morning alongside Georgescu and told reporters: “We are here with one mission only: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy. I have no other goal than first place for the Romanian people.”

For his part, Georgescu called the vote rerun “a fraud orchestrated by those who have made deceit the only state policy,” but that he was there to “acknowledge the power of democracy, the power of the vote that frightens the system, that terrifies the system.”

Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016, is running on a pro-EU “Honest Romania” ticket. After casting his ballot, Dan said he voted “for hope and a new beginning” for Romania. “I voted with realism, because Romania is going through a difficult time,” he said.

Veteran centrist Antonescu, 65, who campaigned on retaining Romania’s pro-Western orientation, said Sunday morning that he voted for “a united Romania, for a strong Romania, for a dignified Romania.”

Victor Ponta, a former prime minister between 2012 and 2015, has also pushed a MAGA-style “Romania First” campaign and boasts of having close ties to the Trump administration.

Another hopeful, Elena Lasconi, came second in last year’s first round ballot and is participating in the rerun. She has positioned herself as a staunchly pro-Western, anti-system candidate, railing against what she describes as a corrupt political class.

Distrust in the authorities remains widespread, especially for those who voted for Georgescu, a sizeable electorate that Simion has sought to tap into.

“The anti-establishment sentiment is not like an anarchic movement, but is against the people who destroyed this country,” Simion, who came fourth in last year’s race and later backed Georgescu, told The Associated Press days before the rerun. “We are not a democratic state anymore.”

Simion said that his hard-right nationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party is “perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement,” capitalizing on a growing wave of populism in Europe after U.S. President Donald Trump’s political comeback. AUR rose to prominence in a 2020 parliamentary election, proclaims to stand for “family, nation, faith, and freedom,” and has since doubled its support.

The election redo is a crossroads moment for Romania as it seeks to restore its democracy and retain its geopolitical alliances, which have become strained since the canceled election fiasco.

The decision to annul the election and the ban on Georgescu’s candidacy drew criticism from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Russia, which publicly supported his candidacy in the rerun.

The presidential role carries a five-year term and significant decision-making powers in national security and foreign policy.