First electoral Sunday in a series of three in Romania, which will elect its president and renew its chamber of deputies. A ballot, organized in a tense social and geopolitical context, which could crown a far-right candidate in this Eastern European country historically anchored to the left.
Among the 13 candidates for the presidency, the leader of the AUR (Alliance for the Unity of Romanians) party George Simion, 38, would be in a position to qualify for the second round according to polls which credit him with 15 to 19%, against some 25% for the favorite, the current Social Democratic Prime Minister (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu, 56 years old. This would represent a thunderclap for this country loyal to NATO and bordering Ukraine. We take a look at the issues of the election.
Who is George Simion, the fan candidate of Donald Trump?
Red MAGA cap screwed on his head, conspiracy speech in his mouth, George Simion stands out on the Romanian political scene. Entering politics in 2019 and elected to Parliament since 2020, he does not hide his admiration for the American president and hopes to take advantage of the favorable wind for ultra-conservative currents in Europe.
Against any military aid to kyiv which banned him for his “anti-Ukrainian” activities, against “the corrupt bubble” of Brussels, against LGBT+ rights: the official advocates a “patriotic” Romania which is no longer led by “ cowards and lackeys” bending to external dictates. “I am happy that we are giving Romanians hope and the prospect of a better future,” he said on Sunday, warning against the risk of “fraud” and “foreign interference”.
What could his election change in Europe and for Ukraine?
Romania, sharing a 650-kilometer border with Ukraine and bordered by the Black Sea, plays a “vital” strategic role, recalls the New Strategy Center think tank in a study. Both for NATO, of which it houses more than 5,000 soldiers, and for the transit of Ukrainian cereals. This country of 19 million inhabitants also remains historically anchored to the left and Europhile, while its neighbors in Slovakia and Hungary are led by nationalists.
“Romanian democracy is in danger for the first time since the fall of communism in 1989,” analyzes political scientist Cristian Parvulescu. With “a situation that has become more complicated” since the victory of Donald Trump in the American elections. If George Simion achieves a good score this Sunday, his AUR party should benefit from “a contagion effect” in the legislative elections on December 1, between the two rounds of the presidential election.
Can the left really lose power?
In Bucharest, several voters confide their desire for “change, to finally see things move”, like Andreea Irimie, a 29-year-old teacher, who came to vote on a cold sunny Sunday, others talk about their fear of war in Ukraine neighbor. Offices close at 9 p.m. Despite a low popularity rating but leading the polls, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu hopes to convince with a message of “stability” that he repeated after slipping his ballot into the ballot box, promising to offer Romanians “a level decent life”. Its formation, heir to the former Communist Party, has structured the country's political life for more than three decades and currently governs in coalition with the liberal PNL.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
In third position in the polls, Elena Lasconi, 52, center-right mayor of a small town, could create a surprise. “I voted […] so that no one packs their bags and leaves the country”, for “institutions that work, good schools for your children, hospitals to treat you”, launched this ex-journalist on Sunday, in a country undermined by corruption and the departure abroad of millions of Romanians. And so that those who died during the 1989 revolution “were not killed in vain”.
