In Romania, the results of the presidential election were canceled and the ultra -right candidate was removed. As a result, the ultra -right candidate still won - already different, but no less radical

He demands to attach to Romania Moldova and part of Ukraine

Romania is trying to choose the president for the second time. The first time the Constitutional Court canceled the results of the vote in November 2024, as a result of which the ultra-right candidate Kalin Georgskoy won. On May 4, a second vote took place (already without a George), in which 53% of the Romanians with voting rights took part. The first place was taken by the right -winging candidate George Simion, who gained 41% of the vote. It is noteworthy that six months ago he was only the fourth. In the second round, appointed on May 18, his opponent will be an independent candidate and mayor of Bucharest Nikushor Dan, for whom voted half as much voters. Medusa tells how the new ultra -right candidate attracted the sympathy of voters and what are his chances to win in the second round.

In Romania, for six months, presidential elections can not hold. As a result, the country lives without the president and without the prime minister

In the presidential election on November 24, 2024, Kalin Georgkeka won an unexpected victory. Before the start of the election campaign in Romania, few knew him, but thanks to the nationalist and populist slogans, as well as an active campaign in Tiktok, he managed to bypass all other candidates and gain almost 23% of the vote.

Georgeka began to prepare for the second round, appointed on December 8, but just a few days before that then President Klaus Johannis published data on Russian intervention in the election process, on the basis of which the Constitutional Court abolished the results of the November vote. This was followed by mass demonstrations in support of the Georges, and on February 10, far -right parties in parliament raised the question of the removal of President Johannis, forcing him to resign , although the term of his powers and so expired in May.

The next episode of the political crisis was the arrest of the George in Bucharest on February 26, when he was traveling to submit documents for participation in the new elections. A few hours later, law enforcement officers released him, but he could not defend the right to participate in new elections.

According to public opinion polls, 38% of the Romanians were ready to cast their votes before the detention for Georges. And this protest electorate quickly found a new favorite - the head of the ultra -right alliance for the unification of the Romanians George Simion, who also participated in the elections on November 24, but became only the fourth, receiving 14% of votes.

On May 4, Simion took the first place, and the political consequences of his victory were not long in coming: on Monday, Prime Minister Social Democrat Marchal Cholak stated on his resignation. He explained his decision by the fact that the ruling coalition formed in December by centrists and social democrats was supposed to offer a candidate who would win the presidential election, but she failed. In May, the candidate Crin Antonescu, supported by the coalition, took only third place. “Yesterday's vote showed that the coalition has lost the legitimacy,” the former prime minister summed up . Thus, now in Romania there is neither the president nor the prime minister-their functions are performed by the Chairman of the Senate and the Minister of the Interior.

The new favorite in the elections is 38-year-old George Simion. He criticizes the EU and calls for annex to Romania Moldova and part of Ukraine

George Simion came to politics in 2019, when he first decided to run for elections to the European Parliament as an independent candidate. Simion was conducting the election campaign under the slogan “Great Romania in Europe”, relying on the protection of the rights of Romanian minorities in Serbia, Ukraine and other neighboring countries, as well as Romanian emigrants who ended up in the countries of the European Union. The bet did not play - Simion received a little more than one percent of the vote and did not get to the European Parliament.

At that time, he did not want to join any parties, but a few months later he changed his mind and in September 2019 he acted as a co-founder of the alliance for the unification of the Romanians. The new party performed with the agenda characteristic of the ultra -right - its ideology is well characterized by the slogan "Family, Nation, Faith and Freedom." The party is skeptical of the EU and demands to protect the national sovereignty of Romania from it. In addition, the Alliance advocates the unification of Romania and Moldova within the borders until 1940 .

In the covid 2020, with its restrictions on freedoms and movement, such a rhetoric, coupled with calls to resist mass vaccination, was to many Romanian voters - in the very first parliamentary elections the Alliance scored 9%. Four years later, in December 2024, the parties managed to double this result, thanks to which she got 63 out of 330 deputy mandates and 28 out of 130 seats in the Senate. So the alliance turned into a second political force in the country after the Social Democrats.

In the elections in November 2024, Georgage supported George Simion, although they were rivals, and even came with him to vote to the polling station.

However, the voter Simion managed to attract primarily with his populist slogans like "to return the Romanians what they took from them." He advocates the state control of strategically important enterprises, for example, Petrom oil company or Romgaz gas -producing, often criticizes the EU and is a supporter of the alternative model of the European Sovereign Nations , which is promoted by Hungary and Slovakia Viktor Orban and Robert Fitzo.

The Simion claims that if necessary, Brussels will resist: “If tomorrow the EU takes a new law for which we did not vote ... or the laws that harm Romania, I use all my powers to prevent harm to my people.”

In many ways, his rhetoric echoes the attitudes of Donald Trump - not without reason the Romanian politician loves to wear red baseball caps with the inscription “Trump, save America!”, Calls his party “Trickpending” in style and emphasizes that he has connections in the US administration.

However, the US president is not the only example to follow the simion. He also admires the extreme Right Italian Prime Minister George Melony, who, according to him, again "instilled faith in the European project in the Italians." He even called for the "cha mentions" of Europe. The Italian prime minister inspires Simion so much that in the event of a victory, he promised to follow her example and arrange a “symionization” in Romania, however, he did not explain what exactly it would be.

In the foreign policy sphere, the position of the Simion is very radical - it calls for Romania to return to the borders until 1940, which means the accession of Moldova and parts of Ukraine. The neighbors do not like his calls. In 2015, the Moldovan authorities expelled Simion from the country and banned the entry "for organizing actions against the country's constitutional order."

Kiev also forbade him to enter in 2024, motivating the decision of the “systematic anti-Ukrainian activity of this policy, which contradicts the national interests of Ukraine and violates its state sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

To Ukraine and Russian aggression against it, Simion has an ambiguous attitude. On the one hand, he calls Putin a war criminal, on the other hand, votes against the law that allows you to shoot down Russian drones flying into the Romanian airspace.

In addition, Simion believes that Kiev infringes the rights of a half -million Romanian minority, claims that Romania spends too much on the support of Ukrainian refugees, and promises that if he came to power, he will stop providing Ukraine with military and logistics assistance. Given that 70% of Ukrainian grain exports passes through the Romanian territorial waters, this is a serious threat.

Simion is also known for organizing a public wedding in 2022, for which, according to the Romanian media, was the scandalous marriage of nationalist Corneliu Kodryan, which took place in 1925. Simion invited all Romanian citizens to the wedding by boiling free buses for them - as a result, several thousand people attended the event.

The success of the Simion in the elections is associated with media technologies. In this regard, he had someone to learn: last fall, his like -minded Kalin Georgeska managed to achieve explosive popularity thanks to Tiktok, which is very popular in Romania, especially among young people. The Simion followed in his footsteps: the videos of his emotional performances at rallies, the shooting of close -up and the personnel of Bekstage provided his account with great popularity - on the eve of the elections, he had 1.3 million subscribers, and the number of likes delivered by him the video exceeded 30 million.

Tiktok helped Simion mobilize not only the youth electorate in Romania, but also the Romanians living outside the country . If in Romania he scored 41%, then among the Romanian emigration his support was 61%. Of the total number of 3.8 million votes set for the Simion on May 4, 600 thousand provided the diaspora.

Candidates representing moderate forces say that elections are a struggle against anti -Western forces. But against the background of the simion, they look pale

Elena Lasconi, who ran for the liberal “Union of Romania Salvation” and in November took second place with 19 percent, over the past six months almost completely lost her electorate and scored only 2.7% of the vote.

According to polls conducted immediately before the May elections, Crin Antonescu, who was supported by the social-democratic and National Liberal Party, was supporting much more solid chances-he had to gain up to 23% of the vote, which would provide him with an exit to the second round. However, in reality, only 20%voted for him, and he took third place.

As a result, the rival of the Simion in the second round will be 55-year-old Nikushor Dan, who was supported by 21% of voters. The co -founder and former head of the “Union of Salvation of Romania”, he adheres to legal and pro -Western views, promises to fight corruption and increase defense expenses. In 2019, Dan was elected mayor of Bucharest and was re -elected five years later.

After the announcement of the results of the first round, Dan made it clear that he was considering his confrontation with Simion as a struggle with anti -Western forces: “Our task is to convince Romanians that the country needs to move in a pro -Western direction, and this is where our campaign will be concentrated in the next two weeks.”

However, Dan can interfere with a lot. For example, in the Romanian press he is criticized for long-standing ties with the entrepreneur Mikhai Pan, who for a long time conducted business in Russia and Belarus and praised Putin in the 2010s. The activity was given as mayor of the Romanian capital also causes ambiguous assessments: trying to protect the city from uncontrolled buildings, he excessively delayed the issuance of permits for the construction of hospitals and the museum of memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Unlike the simion, Dan was not able to successfully use Tiktok and other social networks to advance, and in April he completely stopped campaigning on the Internet . In addition, Dana has problems with the electoral base: educated and wealthy residents of large cities willingly vote for it, but in the regions they are poorly known and prefer to vote behind the shocking simion with its bright populist slogans.

And the candidates who have traveled from the race are in no hurry to speak in support of Dan. So, on the night after the first round of elections, Krin Antonescu, who, recall, received 20% of the vote, said that he had no recommendations for whom the Romanians should vote on May 18. Therefore, in the battle declared by Dan, he himself clearly does not seem to look like a favorite between the supporters and opponents of the West.

Alexander Dunaev