Nicu?or Dan wins Romanian Presidential Election (in a rout)

quote:

---

Romania elected a moderate centrist as president in a major surprise, after weeks when voters looked likely to propel another hard-right populist to lead a large European country.

Despite coming a distant second in the first round two weeks ago, the mild-mannered mayor of Bucharest, Nicu?or Dan, gained a decisive 8-point advantage over his rival, the firebrand George Simion, who showed no sign of being willing to concede defeat.

With 98 percent of polling stations counted by 11:55 p.m. local time Sunday, Dan had won 54 percent to 46 percent for Simion. Turnout was 65 percent, the highest since 1996.

---

quote:

---

While voting was still underway, Simion began questioning the legitimacy of the vote — and he even claimed victory on Sunday night, despite the clear exit poll margin and results so far going against him.

---

quote:

---

Earlier Sunday, Simion claimed he had evidence that 1.8 million dead people were on electoral registers, announcing that his party would conduct its own “parallel” vote count to audit the official results. Romania’s Electoral Permanent Authority rejected the claim, saying it had received no concrete examples from any party about dead people appearing on the registers.

Simion reposted one social media message claiming that elderly hospital patients were being threatened with eviction from their medical facility if they did not vote for Dan, and highlighted a nationwide message from the Russian CEO of social network Telegram, claiming France had demanded the platform silence “conservative” voices in Romania.

---

quote:

---

Dan said people have the right to protest as long as they’re not violent, after questions about Simion potentially not accepting defeat. “There will be an effort to convince people that this is democracy,” Dan told TV station Digi24 in an interview as the channel called the presidency for him.

---