Romania elects a president. 14 candidates, five with a chance for the second round

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. in Poland). Voting will last until 9 p.m. (8 p.m. in Poland). Romanian citizens abroad can vote from Friday. Already on Friday and Saturday, over 200,000 citizens voted abroad Romania.

– 18,968 polling stations were established in Romania, and 950 abroad. The number of voting stations abroad is record-breaking, said Toni Grebla, head of the Romanian Permanent Electoral Office (AEP), before the elections. In total, nearly 19 million ballots were printed.

Just after the polls close at The results of the so-called are expected to be published at 9 p.m. Romanian time. exit poll. The Central Electoral Office (BEC) accredited four opinion research centers to conduct them.

If the winner of the elections is not selected in the first round, the second round will take place two weeks later – on December 8. In turn, on Sunday, December 1, the country will hold parliamentary elections.

Although the current Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leads in polls before the first round, he cannot be considered a certain favorite to win. If there is a representative of the moderate right in the second round, the center-left candidate may lose – in accordance with Romanian electoral “tradition”.

However, Ciolacu's victory seems relatively certain if the candidate of the anti-system radical right, George Simion (leader of the AUR party, Union for the Unity of Romanians), gets to the second round, which will take place on December 8. Then, as experts predict, the mobilization against the candidate, called an “extremist” in Romania, will be stronger than the anti-PSD sentiment.

There were 14 candidates on the electoral lists. These are the head of the PSD Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the National Liberal Party, former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the head of the USR (Union for the Salvation of Romania) Elena Lasconi, the head of the radical right-wing AUR party (Union for the Unity of Romanians) George Simion, the head of the Hungarian minority party Hunor Kelemen, Alexandra Pacuraru (Alternative Party of National Dignity), Sebastian-Constantin Popescu (New Romania Party), Cristian Terhes (Romanian National Conservative Party), Silviu Predoiu (National Action League Party), Ludovic Orban (Power of the Right). The latter candidate withdrew from the run in favor of Elena Lasconi.

Pre-election polls gave five candidates the greatest chance of entering the second round. In addition to Ciolacu, these are Simion and Lasconi, as well as Nicolae Ciuca, another former prime minister and leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL).

So far, the top five was closed by Mircea Geoana, who comes from the PSD but ran as an independent candidate, who has been outside national politics in recent years and served as deputy secretary general NATO. Initially, Geoana was the leader in the polls, but during the campaign its ratings dropped significantly. In Friday's AtlasIntel survey, Geoana dropped from fifth to sixth position with a score of 6.9 percent, overtaken by Calin Georgescu, who comes from the radical right-wing AUR party (8.1 percent).

This poll confirmed the first result of Marcel Ciolacu with 23.7 percent. support, and in second place was Elena Lasconi (17.8%), slightly ahead of George Simiona (16.9%). According to the company's previous survey, both candidates for second place had almost identical results – Simion could count on 15.4 percent, and Lasconi – on 15.3 percent. support. Nicolae Ciuca can expect 14.3%, according to Friday's survey. votes.

The next places in the poll, conducted on November 20-22, went to: former diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs Cristian Diaconescu (6.2%), Hunor Kelemen, leader of the Hungarian minority party UDMR (2.9%) and Cristian Terhes ( 1 percent). Also on the list are Ana Birchall (independent), Alexandra Pacuraru, Sebastian-Constantin Popescu and Silviu Predoiu.

In October, the Constitutional Court prevented Diana Sosoaki, the leader of the pro-Russian and radical right-wing SOS Romania party, from running in the elections for statements that “systematically” violate the constitutional foundations of the state. According to sociologists, the votes of her voters flowed mainly towards Simion and Georgescu.

The overlapping of election cycles influences the high dynamics of the political situation. Experts are convinced that the winners of the first round of the fight for the presidency will improve the results of the parties they represent a week later. The good results of the remaining candidates will also translate into votes in the parliamentary elections.

As analysts predict, the effect of the 2024 election year, in which a total of four campaigns coincided (including elections to the European Parliament and local governments), will certainly be a significant strengthening of the political representation of far-right forces and anti-system parties.