Directional election in Romania.

The runoff election for the presidential office began in Romania on Sunday. It will decide whether the EU-skeptical right-wing populist George Simion or the liberal-conservative pro-European Nicusor Dan will lead the country in the future.

The election is seen as a pivotal moment—also in light of Russia's war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine. Simion is critical of support for Ukraine, while Dan represents the EU's position. In recent polls conducted in the country, the two candidates were tied.

However, the forecasts do not take into account the options of Romanians voting abroad. These voters have already played a role in close election results in the past. Their number is likely well over one million. In the first round of voting on March 4, Simion received around 60 percent of the votes of Romanians abroad—20 percentage points more than at home.

The runoff voting abroad began on Friday. By late Saturday evening, more than 700,000 Romanians had already cast their votes. Moreover, voter turnout abroad was twice as high as in the first round. A total of 17.9 million eligible voters are called to the polls.

In the first round of voting, Simion came first but missed an absolute majority, finishing about 20 percentage points ahead of Dan.

The entire election is a repeat of last year's presidential election, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court. Kremlin-friendly Calin Georgescu had won in the first round. The court justified the move by citing illicit campaign methods and financing and banned Georgescu from running again. Simion intends to push Georgescu into the office of prime minister.

Simion declared on Saturday evening that he would only consider the election fair if it resulted in a "landslide victory" for him. He made this statement on the short message platform X in a video showing him at the hairdresser. Simion had previously blocked his Facebook and TikTok accounts to signal that he would no longer campaign the day before the election, as required by law. Election advertising is prohibited in Romania on Saturday and election Sunday.

Polling stations opened at 6:00 a.m. CEST and closed at 8:00 p.m. CEST. The first partial counting results are expected around 10:00 p.m. CEST.