{"id":111598,"date":"2025-05-18T11:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T11:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111598\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T11:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T11:46:08","slug":"romanian-run-off-the-most-crucial-vote-on-europes-super-sunday-of-elections-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111598\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian run-off the most crucial vote on Europe\u2019s \u2018Super Sunday\u2019 of elections \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romanians<\/a> are voting in a pivotal presidential run-off that could radically alter their country\u2019s strategic alignment and economic prospects, as voters in Poland<\/a> and Portugal<\/a> also cast their ballots in a European electoral \u201csuper Sunday\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Romanian contest, the most consequential of the three, pits a brash, EU<\/a>-critical, Trump-admiring populist against a centrist independent in a knife-edge vote that analysts have called most important in the country\u2019s post-communist history.<\/p>\n

George Simion, a former soccer ultra and ultranationalist agitator who sees his far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party as a \u201cnatural ally\u201d of the US Maga movement, comfortably won the May 4th first round with a score of 41 per cent, double that of the Bucharest mayor, Nicu\u015for Dan.<\/p>\n

Recent polls have shown the gap between the two candidates closing, with one putting them neck and neck and another placing Mr Dan \u2013 who has described the vote as a battle between \u201ca pro-western and an anti-western Romania\u201d \u2013 ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election isn\u2019t just about the president of Romania but about its entire direction,\u201d said Siegfried Mure\u015fan, a liberal Romanian MEP. Mr Simion would \u201cweaken Europe\u2019s unity, undermine support for Ukraine, and benefit only Vladimir Putin,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In Poland, 13 contenders are vying to be the country\u2019s next head of state in the first round of presidential elections, with the centrist mayor of Warsaw, Rafa\u0142 Trzaskowski, a senior member of prime minister Donald Tusk\u2019s Civic Coalition, the front-runner.<\/p>\n

Polls predict that Mr Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki, a historian who is formally independent but has been endorsed by the former national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, will advance to the second round, which is due on June 1st.<\/p>\n

A win for the centrist would boost Mr Tusk\u2019s ability to push through his reformist agenda, which has been hampered by Polish presidents\u2019 power to veto legislation passed by parliament. The outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, is a PiS ally.<\/p>\n

Portugal, meanwhile, heads to the polls for its third snap general election in three years after the centre-right prime minister, Lu\u00eds Montenegro, triggered and lost a confidence vote in parliament over questions about his family\u2019s business activities.<\/p>\n

Mr Montenegro\u2019s Democratic Alliance platform is forecast to finish first but fall short of a majority, and could struggle to form a government, especially if the Socialist party, likely to finish second, keeps its pledge to oppose his legislative agenda.<\/p>\n

Mr Montenegro has vowed not to work with the far-right Chega, whose leader, former TV football pundit Andr\u00e9 Ventura, was hospitalised on Friday after twice collapsing at rallies, but could be replaced as party leader with someone more Chega-compatible.<\/p>\n

In Romania, Mr Simion\u2019s first-round win triggered the collapse of Romania\u2019s government of centre-left Social Democrats (PSD) and centre-right Liberals (PNL), and whoever wins will nominate the next prime minister and influence the formation of a new ruling coalition.<\/p>\n

The vote is a rerun of last November\u2019s ballot, won by a far-right, Moscow-friendly firebrand, C\u0103lin Georgescu, who was barred from standing again after the vote was cancelled amid allegations of campaign finance violations and Russian meddling.<\/p>\n

Mr Simion has promised to nominate Mr Georgescu, who is under formal investigation on counts including misreporting campaign spending, illegal use of digital technology and promoting fascist groups, as prime minister if he becomes president.<\/p>\n

Romanian presidents have a semi-executive role with considerable powers over foreign policy, national security, defence spending and judicial appointments. They can also dissolve parliament if MPs reject two prime ministerial nominations.<\/p>\n

Analysts have said that since neither PSD or PNL would want a snap election with Mr Simion\u2019s AUR \u2013 the second biggest party in parliament \u2013 in the ascendant, a minority AUR-led government, backed perhaps by PSD, is a clear possibility if Mr Simion wins.<\/p>\n

Mr Simion opposes further aid to Ukraine and has sharply criticised the EU\u2019s leadership. While he insists he wants Romania to stay in the EU and Nato, he could ally with Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orban and Slovakia\u2019s Robert Fico as another disruptive force. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Romanians are voting in a pivotal presidential run-off that could radically alter their country\u2019s strategic alignment and economic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,770,3046,1438],"class_list":{"0":"post-111598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-poland","13":"tag-portugal","14":"tag-romania"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114528674548400651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}