Romanians are heading to the polls on May 4 in the first round of a presidential election that could bring far-right, Eurosceptic candidate George Simion to power.
The vote follows the annulment of the previous first round held in November 2024, when Romania's Constitutional Court invalidated the outcome due to evidence of social media manipulation and foreign interference.
That round had been won by populist Calin Georgescu, who openly promoted conspiracy theories and voiced strong support for Russia, calling Ukraine a "fictional state" and predicting its partition as "inevitable."
In February, U.S. Vice President JD Vance strongly condemned Romania's decision, causing a stir within the country's political establishment, which relies heavily on its close ties with Washington.
"As I understand it, the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections. But I'd ask my European friends to have some perspective," Vance told the Munich conference.
"If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with."
Despite the backlash, Georgescu remained disqualified from participating in the May 4 vote.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. across 18,979 locations and will close at 9 p.m., with exit poll results expected shortly after. Eleven candidates are on the ballot.
Pre-election surveys show Simion leading with roughly 30% support, far short of the 50% required to avoid a runoff. The second round is scheduled for May 18 between the top two finishers.
Simion, who was banned from entering Ukraine in November 2024 over systematic anti-Ukrainian activities, leads a party opposed to sending weapons to Ukraine and against transferring Romanian Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv.
His main challengers are two pro-Western centrists: Crin Antonescu, 65, former acting president backed by Romania's governing coalition, and Nicusor Dan, 55, Bucharest's mayor running as an independent with a strong anti-corruption platform.
Both support continued membership in the EU and NATO, as well as aid to Ukraine.
Romania, a NATO member bordering Ukraine, has signed a bilateral security agreement with Kyiv, backed sanctions against Russia, sent a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, and facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain amid Russian threats in the Black Sea.
Olga Rudenko
(Updated: )
