Dan on the cusp of victory over Simion in Romanian presidential election runoff thriller

Independent candidate Nicusor Dan has maintained his lead over his nationalist competitor George Simion in the Romanian presidential election thriller which transfixed and polarised the country, according to the count on Sunday night.

After 95% of votes were counted, Dan held an advantage of 54% over Simion, who won 45% of voters’ support—a difference of 700,000 votes.

However, the election still remains too close to call, leading to a cliffhanger on the night after 11 million Romanians voted at a 64% turnout.

Just one hour earlier, Romanian exit polls projected Dan had won about 54% of the vote on Sunday, while Simion hovered around

Avangarde projects Dan winning 54,9% of the votes and Simion 45,0%, while Curs projects Dan at 54,10% and Simion at 45,9%. The margin of error is 2%.

According to the exit polls’ national projections by pollsters Avangarde and Curs published by Euronews Romania, NATO’s Eastern flank country chose the pro-EU, pro-NATO candidate in a massive turnout marked by fear and resentment, overturning Simion’s lead in the first round.

But the voting trend of the last hours may still affect these projections, setting the stage for a dramatic election night in what most Romanians see as the most crucial vote in their post-communist history

Also, the relativity of exit poll projections in previous elections, another sign of the hard-fought presidential election battle in the bitterly polarised Romania, means that the official count and the diaspora vote results will now grip Romania for the next hours until the final official result is announced.

The Avangarde pollster sociologists noticed a larger voting presence in the big cities, which tend to favour Dan, and lower participation in the countryside and smaller towns, where the big parties’ electorate does not have a candidate.

Everyone’s a winner

Meanwhile, both candidates have declared victory on Sunday evening as they await the official count.

“Today’s win is by a Romanian community that wants a profound change,” Dan said after the polls became public. “We are living a moment of hope

“From tomorrow, all together, let’s start Romania’s reconstruction. Romania will go through hard moment let’s remember the force of our nation,” Dan added.

“It is our duty to fight for a single Romania, not for two Romanias,” he concluded.

Euronews Romania’s live coverage has shown hundreds of celebrating Dan supporters flooding the central avenue in front of Bucharest’s town hall, where the independent candidate was voted mayor twice.

Meanwhile, Simion declared himself “Romania’s new president” at his party’s gathering in the Romanian parliament in Bucharest.

“A new era is born tonight. It is time for an epoch in which Romania be democratic, Christian and rich. So help us God,” Simion announced.

“We are the clear winners of these elections. We claim the victory in the name of the Romanian people. It is the victory of the humiliated Romanian people,” he said.

“It does not matter which side each of us has been in these elections, this is democracy, we now need to shake hands.”

Simion also thanked the Romanian diaspora, whom he visited extensively over the last days of the presidential campaign earlier this week.

“I owe today’s victory to the Romanian diaspora. You Romanian who left abroad, you must know that only with you we can make Romania great among the states of the free world.”

“I don’t promise miracles, but I promise to be among you,” he concluded.

Simion then left the stage to the sound of Village People’s “YMCA,” one of US President Donald Trump’s favourite tracks on his 2024 campaign trail.

Fake news campaign spotted again

In the last hours of the voting, the Romanian foreign, interior and defence ministries denounced what they called “Russian interference,” warning voters about a fake news campaign rolled out on Telegram, TikTok and other social media platforms.

The Romanian foreign ministry spokesperson Andrei Tarnea said on X Sunday that “once again we see the distinctive signs of Russian interference (…) to influence the electoral process.

“This was expected,” he added.

In a coordinated move, the three ministries revealed that a fake video published on Sunday “falsely claims that French troops in Romania secretly wear Romanian gendarmerie uniforms to intervene internally,” has been linked directly to Russia.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov revealed that he refused a request from “a Western country”, which he didn’t name, to “silence” the conservative voices in Romania.

“Telegram will not restrict the liberties of Romanian users, nor will it block their political channels”, Durov said.

Follow Euronews Romania’s live coverage of the presidential election repeat’s runoff