Description: Eurosceptic hard – right candidate George Simion has secured the first-round victory in Romania’s presidential election and would face former Bucharest major Nicusor Dan in a runoff election on 18 May. Simion secured 41% of the votes as opposed to Dan’s 21% and is poised to become Romania’s next President since his campaigned relied heavily on anti – EU sentiments which saw previous far – right candidate Calin Georgescu disqualified by Romania’s Constitutional Court. Romania has been subjected to severe disinformation campaigns through social media platforms such as TikTok and Telegram which influenced the election towards supporting Simion who only enjoyed 14% of public support before Georgescu’s ousting.
Impact: Romania further aligned with countries such as Hungary and Slovakia in the incorporation of far -right led policies inspired by the Trump administration and incentivized through the weaponization of social media platforms. Simion’s evident triumph in waiting would put the country on a disintegration path from the European Union further debilitating the bloc’s eastern flank which has been subjected under intensified Russian influence in the past couple of years. Romania is set to conform its political landscape towards the negative trend of increased support for ultranationalist policies dictated by the global uprise in popularity by far – right political parties. In crucial period for EU’s security and political composition, the bloc of countries fights a losing battle as countries are increasingly leaning towards unilateralism and independence instead of inclusion and political cohabitation.