Simion is ahead when 99 percent of the votes have been counted, with 40.5 percent. The independent liberal mayor Nicosur Dan has at the same time 20.9 percent of the votes, and the former leader of the right-wing party PNL, Cirin Antonescu, 20.3 percent, reports AP.
Antonescu acknowledged defeat shortly after midnight.
When the polling stations closed on Sunday evening, around 53 percent of the eligible voters – equivalent to around 9.6 million people – had voted, according to the election authority. Of these, over 970,000 had voted at polling stations in other countries.
Since none of the candidates appears to get 50 percent of the votes, the decisive round is expected to be held on May 18.
Invalidated election
The 38-year-old Simion has promised to put Romania first and presents himself as a Romanian Donald Trump. He wants to discontinue the military support to Ukraine and stop the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products. Simion is also EU-critical and wants to reduce Brussels' influence, but he still wants Romania in both NATO and the EU.
Romania actually held its presidential election last autumn, when the relatively unknown far-right candidate Calin Georgescu surprisingly got the most votes. However, this led to illegal influence from outside, not least via Tiktok and other social media. The election was invalidated and Georgescu was disqualified from running again.
Wants Georgescu as prime minister
Many of Georgescu's voters seem to have instead backed Simion, who has promised to work to make Georgescu prime minister. Simion has also based much of his online campaign on messages via Tiktok.
The President of Romania represents the country at the EU's top meetings. However, much of the policy is controlled by the government, which currently relies on a broad coalition in parliament between conservatives and social democrats.
