(ANSA-AFP) - BUCHAREST, MAY 5 - Romania's far-right candidate
George Simion took a comfortable lead in Sunday's first round of
presidential elections, near-final results for the rerun of last
year's annulled ballot showed. The closely watched rerun could
potentially herald a foreign policy shift in the EU country of
19 million, which has become a key pillar of NATO since Russia's
invasion of Ukraine. With 99 percent of ballots counted,
nationalist AUR party leader Simion -- a fan of US President
Donald Trump -- was leading with 40.5 percent of the vote. He
will face off against pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan in the
May 18 run-off, who surged to second place at 20.9 percent,
narrowly booting out governing coalition candidate Crin
Antonescu at 20.3. "Together we made history today," said Simion
in a video message broadcast at his party's headquarters as
euphoric supporters chanted "Out with the thieves, let patriots
come". (ANSA-AFP).
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