Members of the Romanian diaspora have begun casting their ballots in the lead up to Sunday’s high-stakes presidential election runoff.
The second round of the presidential election is expected to be a tight race between hard-right candidate George Simion and pro-European independent Nicușor Dan.
Voting for Romanians abroad began on Thursday at 10 pm Romanian time, when the first polling station opened in Auckland, New Zealand.
Out of the some one million eligible voters abroad, 158,000 had cast their ballots by 4 pm on Friday, according to polling stations.
“The vote is very important for me, because the European path is something I dreamt of even since I was a student and I strongly believe in this direction,” said one voter in Paris.
“I voted for a better future, for peace in our country and for us Romanians living abroad for many years already to go back home,” another voter in Rome said.
Romania is gripped by a deep political crisis after a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Călin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.
After coming fourth in last year’s cancelled race, Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, backed Georgescu who was banned in March from standing in the redo. Simion then surged to frontrunner in the 4 May rerun after becoming the standard-bearer for the hard right.
Votes abroad could be decisive
Most recent local surveys indicate the runoff has narrowed to a near tie, after earlier ones showed Simion holding a lead over Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician who rose to prominence as a civic activist fighting against illegal real estate projects.
Simion, also a former activist who campaigned for reunification with neighbouring Moldova, says he would focus on reforms: slashing red tape, reducing bureaucracy and taxes. But he insists that his main goal is to restore democracy. “My platform is to return to democracy, to the will of the people,” he said.
Simion’s activities in Moldova led to allegations he was trying to destabilise the country and a ban on his entry there. He is also banned from entering Ukraine for “systemic anti-Ukrainian” activities.
Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu posted a public message this week in support of Dan, saying Moldovans understand the value of being “part of the European family,” and urged Moldovans with dual Romanian citizenship to vote to ”protect what Romania has already achieved, but which is now under threat.”
Hours after voting opened on Friday, Simion accused the Moldovan government of election fraud, claims that were quickly rejected by Moldovan and Romanian authorities. “These statements are intended to sow distrust and hostility, with the aim of influencing the election process,” Romania’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
In the first round on 4 May, Simion won a massive 61% of Romania’s large diaspora vote, with his calls to patriotism resonating with Romanians who moved abroad in search of better opportunities.
Claudiu Tufis, an associate professor of political science at the University of Bucharest, says Sunday’s result will likely boil down to turnout, which is often higher in the second round vote. “Turnout will be the key,” he said.
Over the past week, Simion has sought to shore up diaspora support in a tour of European capitals.
Both campaigns consider the votes of Romanians abroad decisive for Sunday’s second round. Simion has been on a campaign tour of London, Rome, Brussels and Paris, while his contender Dan is campaigning in Romania.
Additional sources • AP, EBU
Read the full article here