The Albany Gazette - Trumpist faces pro-EU mayor in tight Romania presidential rerun

If nationalist George Simion wins the rerun -- held after last year's vote was annulled over allegations of election interference -- he would become the country's first far-right president.

That would thrust Romania into a growing group of EU members with nationalist leaders critical of Brussels and keen to cut military aid to Ukraine.

Far-right leader Simion and his rival, Bucharest's Mayor Nicusor Dan, have both campaigned on a platform of change amid anger with politicians deemed corrupt who have ruled one of the EU's poorest members since the end of Communism 35 years ago.

"I voted thinking about a better life," Catalin Birca, 57, a pensioner in Bucharest, told AFP, adding that he wanted his country to remain pro-European.

"What are we doing otherwise? Going back to where we started from?" he added.

- 'Turning point' -

Polls will close at 9:00 pm (1800), with exit polls to be published shortly afterwards and results expected to come in overnight.

Pledging to put "Romania first", Simion -- who has slammed what he calls the EU's "absurd policies" and wants to cut military aid to Ukraine -- has vowed to "restore the dignity of the Romanian people".

The 38-year-old comfortably topped the first round on May 4, gaining close to 41 percent.

But analysts predict a very close race on Sunday for the post, which has significant sway in foreign policy, including holding veto power at EU summits.

Polls suggest Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, has managed to narrow the lead of Simion, a former football hooligan, in the country of 19 million people.

Dan, an independent who has promised a country that is "honest" but that continues on its pro-EU path, voted in his native city Fagaras in Transylvania, central Romania.

"This is a turning point, a crucial election... Romania is choosing its future --not just for the next five years, but for much longer," Dan said, adding that he voted "for a European direction... not for Romania's isolation".

He is hoping for a higher turnout than the 53 percent who turned out for the first round.

Simion said he "voted against the inequalities and injustices done to the Romanian people, against abuses and poverty".

"I voted for our future to be decided by Romanian people and for Romanian people," added the candidate, who has repeatedly alleged a risk of "massive fraud".

- 'Georgescu for president' -

Simion went to vote in Mogosoaia, just outside Bucharest, together with far-right Calin Georgescu, who was the front-runner in last year's cancelled elections and has been barred from the rerun.

"Calin Georgescu for president," dozens of people, some holding flowers, shouted as the duo arrived.

Last year's vote cancellation and the subsequent barring of Georgescu drew tens of thousands to protest in sometimes violent rallies.

Top US officials have also criticised the ruling to scrap the ballot.

Romania's constitutional court cancelled the elections following allegations of Russian meddling -- which Moscow denies -- and a massive social media promotion of Georgescu.

Simion, who on Saturday took his TikTok and Facebook accounts offline to "respect the day of silence", opened them again on Sunday

The campaign has taken place in a tense atmosphere.

Last week's surprise resignation of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the collapse of his pro-European government coalition -- after their candidate failed to make the runoff -- have further raised the stakes.

The new president will have the power to appoint a new prime minister, and Simion's nationalist AUR party could enter government after negotiations for a new parliamentary majority.

The election turmoil has also increased economic uncertainty in the EU's most indebted country, which has grappled with high inflation.

(P.Davis--TAG)