Romanians vote in presidential election focused on high living costs, Ukraine war

RFI

24 November 2024 at 7:02 am·2-min read

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the Social Democratic Party or PSD candidate in the country's presidential elections, casts his vote in Bucharest, Romania, on 24 November 2024.

Romanians started voting on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that may give hard-right politician George Simion a chance of winning, with voters focused on high living costs and the country's support for Ukraine.

Opinion surveys show leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, 56, leader of Romania's largest party, the Social Democrats, will make it into the run-off vote on 8 December, with Simion, 38, of the Alliance for Uniting Romanians the likely runner-up.

About 3.7 million Romanians, or 20.7 percent of registered voters in the European Union and NATO state, had cast their ballots across the country by 1045 GMT, data showed.

Voting ends at 1900 GMT with exit polls to follow immediately.

Voting by Romanians abroad, who can influence the result and where the hard right leader is popular, began on Friday.

Analysts expect Ciolacu to win the second round against Simion, appealing to moderates and touting his experience running Romania during a war next door.

But the prospect of a Ciolacu-Simion run-off vote could mobilise centre-right voters in favour of Elena Lasconi, leader of opposition Save Romania Union, ranked third in opinion surveys, analysts said.

Simion has cast the election as a choice between an entrenched political class beholden to foreign interests in Brussels and himself, an outsider who will defend Romania's economy and sovereignty.

He opposes military aid to Ukraine and supports a peace plan as envisioned by US President-elect Donald Trump, whom he admires, and would support a government that emulates that of Italy's Giorgia Meloni.

(Reuters)

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