Protests in Romania as Fears of Pro-Russian Candidate Grow

Tens of thousands rallied in Romania’s capital Friday to demand a commitment to the country’s pro-European path ahead of next week’s presidential run-off, after a far-right candidate came out on top in the initial vote.

The rally came after George Simion, an EU critic who opposes sending aid to neighboring Ukraine, comfortably triumphed in the first round of a tense presidential rerun, with opinion polls suggesting he will win the run-off on May 18.

The vote will be closely watched in Brussels, Washington and Moscow following the rare annulment of last year’s election after claims of Russian interference.

Around 50,000 people gathered in Bucharest, organizers said, many waving Romanian and EU flags and holding banners that read “You don’t vote, you don’t count”. 

Similar protests were held in other cities across Romania.

Simion will face the pro-EU centrist candidate Nicusor Dan in the run-off. 

“We can’t vote for Simion under any circumstances. Europe is our home,” the writer Ioana Nicolaie told AFP at the rally.

“We are in a dramatic situation, we must all go to the polls,” said Nicolaie, wife of the renowned writer Mircea Cartarescu, warning that the country’s hard-fought accession to the European Union would be lost.

George Matei, a student draped in a Romanian flag, said: “I’m very afraid, I’ve been thinking a lot in the last week about leaving the country.”

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Simion, who heads the nationalist AUR party, has vowed to demand “compensation for Romania’s participation in the war effort so far.”

An avowed fan of US President Donald Trump, the 38-year-old won 40.9 percent of the first-round vote on May 4, well ahead of Dan with 20.9 percent.

In an interview on Friday, Dan said he respected the “five million isolationist voters” who supported Simion but alleged they had “been duped,” urging a heavy turnout for the run-off.