Right-wing historian Karol Nawrocki garnered 50.89% of the vote in the run-off election on June 1, narrowly defeating his liberal rival, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.
Russia-aligned actors are amplifying anti-Ukrainian sentiment through coordinated campaigns across platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, Facebook, and Telegram, according to a new investigation by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
In a video address posted online, Calin Georgescu said he had made a personal choice to become a mere "observer of public and social life" and devote more time and energy to his family.
In his address to lawmakers following the oath, Romanian President Nicusor Dan thanked citizens for their engagement in recent political debates, regardless of their stance.
Karol Nawrocki, backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, claimed President Volodymyr Zelensky "treats Poland badly" and defended his criticism of Ukraine's NATO bid by insisting, "I speak the language of Poles."
Days before, George Simion, leader of Romania's far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), appealed the results despite conceding defeat to pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan on May 18.
"We are deeply grateful for Romania’s contribution to protecting the lives of our people. It is important that support for Ukraine continues," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Durov, a Russian-born founder of the Telegram messaging app who also holds French citizenship, claimed that a "Western European government" requested the company to "silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today's presidential elections."
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski narrowly led Poland’s presidential election on May 18, but failed to secure an outright victory.
In an anxiously watched race, Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan won the presidency against the far-right candidate George Simion, who is banned from entering both Ukraine and Moldova due to his extremist views.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include information from Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR). Poland and Romania — key NATO allies bordering Ukraine — are holding presidential elections on May 18, with both votes unfolding under the shadow of Russian interference and rising far-right influence. The simultaneous elections are being
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the cyberattacks hit the website of his Civic Platform party, as well as those of its coalition partners, the Left and the Polish People’s Party (PSL).
Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023 in connection with the activities of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which was co-founded by Golos's legal predecessor, the Golos association.
The majority of Ukrainians, 71%, do not support holding elections before a full peace deal, even in the case of a ceasefire and security guarantees, according to a poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on May 14.
Editor's note: this article was updated on May 16 with the latest polling data. Just days before the Romanian presidential election runoff, the two presidential hopefuls are neck-and-neck in the polls. Polling by AtlasIntel, released on May 13, showed far-right George Simion and liberal pro-EU Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan were
Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion, head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), received nearly 41% of the votes. Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote, and the candidate from the ruling coalition, Crin Antonescu, obtained 20.13%.
Far-right Eurosceptic candidate George Simion is projected to win the first round of Romania’s presidential election on May 4, gaining nearly 40% of the votes with a majority of polling stations reporting.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a second term, becoming the first Australian leader to do so since John Howard in 2004.
Canada's Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, won the country's federal elections on April 28 in a campaign shaped by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and expansionist rhetoric.
Moldova's parliament voted on April 17 to hold elections on Sept. 28 – a vote that could potentially threaten the majority currently held by pro-Western President Maia Sandu's party.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on April 13 that she hopes her country can wrap up EU accession talks by the end of 2027, warning that upcoming parliamentary elections will be critical in preserving Moldova’s pro-European trajectory.
"There has been a policy of favoring Ukrainian grain in terms of access to port facilities in recent years, at the detriment of Romanian grain, and Romanian farmers were greatly affected by it," Romanian presidential candidate Victor Ponta said.
Earlier, the U.K. imposed sanctions on the pro-Russian NGO "Eurasia," which is allegedly responsible for attempts to rig the referendum in Moldova.
Davyd Arakhamia's statement comes after the Economist reported that Ukraine's elections could be held in July 2025.
A French court on March 31 found Marine Le Pen, one of the leaders of the far-right National Rally party (RN), guilty of embezzling EU funds and banned her from running for public office "with immediate effect."
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko began his seventh term in power on March 25 after declaring himself the winner of the January elections broadly seen as neither fair nor free.
Ukraine has not held elections during Russia's full-scale war because they are prohibited under martial law, which was declared on Feb. 24, 2022.
Romania's electoral bureau has disqualified far-right candidate Calin Georgescu from running in the presidential election re-run, multiple Romanian channels announced on March 9.
Ex-President Petro Poroshenko's team works "publicly and transparently" with U.S. partners to ensure bipartisan support for Kyiv, Poroshenko said on March 6.
Romanian prosecutors requested the temporary arrest of 21 individuals linked to far-right leader Calin Georgescu on Feb. 28, days after his detention, Reuters reported.
Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court ordered a full recount of the country's October 2024 parliamentary election results on Feb. 26 following an audit that discovered various voting discrepancies.
The Romanian Prosecutor General's office has charged pro-Russian Calin Georgescu with "incitement to actions against the constitutional order" and other alleged crimes related to the Nov. 24 first-round elections.
(Updated: )
