Who is George Simion, who came far at the top of the first round of the presidential election in Romania?

The candidate has changed but the extreme right remains in the lead: five months after the shock cancellation of the first round of the presidential election, Romania confirmed in a new vote on Sunday, May 5, its nationalist turn. George Simion, a Eurosceptic fan of Donald Trump who dreams in “President Maga” (Make America Great Again) collected 40.5 % of the vote, according to almost final results.

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He will face in the second round scheduled for May 18, the centrist mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan (20.9 %), who narrowly exceeded the sole candidate of the ruling parties, Crin Antonescu (20.3 %). “Together, we wrote a history page today”reacted George Simion in a video message broadcast at his party’s headquarters in front of delighted supporters, singing “Outside thieves, long live the patriots”.

Aversion for “Bureaucrats Brussels”

The arrival at the head surprise, in November, of Calin Georgescu, a former senior official accused by his detractors of being favorable to the Kremlin, had worried in the west of the continent and plunged Romania into the turmoil. The Constitutional Court invalidated the ballot and excluded the sixties in this new election, after a massive campaign on Tiktok marred by suspicions of Russian interference.

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He was replaced by George Simion, 38, who arrived fourth in the November election, and the two men appeared together on Sunday in a polling station in Mogosoaia, near Bucharest. During the campaign, George Simion brandished his youth, his sovereignist rhetoric and his mastery of the Tiktok platform to seduce the voters of Calin Georgescu. The two men share the same aversion to “Brussels bureaucrats” And oppose any military support for kyiv.

After the decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court, George Simion had rebellious against a ” coup “a trapped democracy and a «Fraud» electoral. If he accesses the supreme post, he promised to “Porter Calin Georgescu to power”evoking three options: “A referendum, anticipated legislative elections or the formation of a coalition in Parliament which would name him Prime Minister”.

While refusing the extreme right label – “Those who label me from the far right want to denigrate me in order to hide the problems of corruption in Romania”, he says to franceinfo-, George Simion is openly anti-Mariage Homosexual and « anti-woke ». “As a young Romanian, I want to be part of the free world. But the free world as I understand it should not force me to accept that my son, at 8 or 10 years old, changes sex ”he launches to franceinfo.

“President Maga”

George Simion, without leaning towards Russia that he says Abhorrer – a difference in size with Calin Georgescu -, does not miss an opportunity to criticize Brussels, like his neighbor Viktor Orban, preferring to look on the other side of the ocean. “We are the only ones to have relations with the State Department” And the other American ministries, he assures, unlike current Romanian leaders “Unable to open doors”.

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Like the DOGE team, responsible for tracking down fraud and unnecessary expenses in the United States budget, George Simion wants “To invest in defense” And almost double over the next five years the military budget of this member state of NATO neighboring Ukraine, 4 % of the gross domestic product (GDP). What satisfy Donald Trump, who continues to put pressure on the members of the Atlantic Alliance so that they are making their efforts.

The candidate goes further in his admiration for the American president and brought the ambition to build an alliance of Maga country, named after the Trumpist slogan ” Make America Great Again »within the EU.