The votes of Romanians abroad could weigh heavily in these presidential elections as well. Exit polls show Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in first place at the moment. These estimates put Elena Lasconi, president of the USR, in second place, but the results “on the photo” in the country indicate a strong vote for the extreme right.
Update 00.55
The Romanian ultranationalist Călin Georgescu is currently on his way to the final round of the presidential elections, according to Sunday’s provisional results, reported by almost 90% of polling stations, Politico reports, News.ro transmits.
According to the partial results, Georgescu leads with 22%, closely followed by center-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, with 21.4%. Another highly publicized candidate, from the hard right, George Simion, is behind with 14.6%, while the reformist candidate Elena Lasconi has 16.3%, after reporting the results of 88% of the polling stations.
A first exit poll suggested that Lasconi would qualify for the second round of the presidential elections, but the Romanian political environment was shocked by Georgescu’s rise as the counting of votes continued on Sunday evening. Preliminary results may change as votes continue to be counted, POLITICO notes.
Georgescu, extremely religious and nationalist, campaigned to reduce Romania’s dependence on imports, support farmers and increase domestic food and energy production. He also argued that the EU and NATO do not properly represent Romania’s interests and argued that Russia’s war in Ukraine is being manipulated by American military companies.
A little-known university professor who used TikTok to mobilize voters around him, Georgescu drew fierce criticism for his previous comments in support of the fascist Legionary Movement in 20th-century Romania, Politico notes.
Voter turnout in the entire country and in the Romanian diaspora was 52.5%, slightly above the level of 51.2% recorded in the previous presidential elections in 2019.
The publication has updated its initial analysis and now says that Romania now appears to be following the global far-right political trend, with ultranationalist Călin Georgescu on course to reach the final round of the presidential election alongside incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, according to Sunday’s provisional results. with more than two thirds of the counted ballots.
The original news
The first two candidates will face off in the second round of voting on December 8. The exit polls showed Ciolacu with 25% and Lasconi with 18%, while Călin Georgescu and George Simion, the two extreme right candidates, were at 16% and 15% of the votes, respectively. The data does not include the votes of the hundreds of thousands of Romanians living abroad, who can still influence the result. Both Simion and Lasconi are popular among Romanians abroad, writes Reuters, according to News.ro.
Analysts predicted that social democrat Ciolacu would win a second round against Simion, who was his main opponent in opinion polls before the vote. Ciolacu displayed his experience of leading Romania during the war in neighboring Ukraine. However, it is said that he could have problems in front of Lasconi, Reuters mentions.
Politico writes instead that, according to the first exit polls, Romania seems to be about to counter the global trend of pivoting to the hard right, with the reformist candidate Elena Lasconi going to defeat the nationalist George Simion to reach the final round of the presidential elections. The current centre-left prime minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, would rank first in the first round of the presidential election, with 25% support, followed by Lasconi with 18%, according to the first exit poll results of the
Simion obtained 15%, behind the independent candidate Călin Georgescu, himself a radical nationalist and sympathizer of the legionnaires, who obtained 16 percent. The preliminary results could still change this situation, as the votes are counted, Politico points out.
At the time of writing this news, with almost 70% of the minutes centralized, Ciolacu has 22.56%, Călin Georgescu has 22.14%, Simion has 15.19%, and Lasconi has 14%. These figures do not include many of the big cities.
Source: ziare.com
