In the second round of the re-run presidential election in Romania, Nicusor Dan, an independent mayor of Bucharest, appears to be winning. With 98% of the votes counted, Dan has a narrow lead of around 54%. His far-right rival, George Simion, has received around 45% of the votes so far. However, the ultra-nationalist has not given up and has even claimed victory.
Last year, the presidential election was deemed invalid after the first round by the Supreme Court and Court of Cassation. The judges based their decision on revelations from the Romanian intelligence service, which stated that the country had become a target of an “aggressive Russian hybrid attack.”
According to the court, the far-right and pro-Kremlin Calin Georgescu was heavily promoted through the popular TikTok app using coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid advertising. Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election in November, despite previously receiving single-digit polling numbers. On November 24, 22.94% of voters supported Georgescu. He was not allowed to participate in the re-run election.