Hard-right nationalist George Simion could win Romania’s presidential election run-off on Sunday – a vote being held five months after the original election was annulled.

Although Dan’s come-from-behind victory has halted Romania’s slide into autocracy for now, it does not resolve the deeper political crisis facing the country. Simion received 5.3 million of the 11.5 million votes cast.

Nicusor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest, defeated George Simion, a nationalist aligned with President Trump who had been seen as the front-runner.

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George Simion suggests Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, should stop aiding Ukraine. Ukraine considers him a national security threat.

Defeating populists never signals an easy return to the status quo ante.

A pro-European Union centrist pulled off an upset in Romania’s presidential election, beating out a hard-right nationalist who had channeled people’s anger at the political establishment to surge in the polls.

MP from the opposition party "Alliance for the Unification of Romanians" (AUR) Dan Tanase said today, May 20, in parliament that the party led by ex-presidential candidate George Simion will not participate in parliamentary consultations with President-elect Nikushor Dan.