May 4, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news

Newsroom, 04.05.2025, 22:16

VOTE The ultranationalist, sovereignist George Simion, leader of the AUR party, has emerged as winner of the first round of the presidential election in Romania on Sunday. In the race for the second place and a place in the runoff on May 18^th, is the former Liberal leader and interim president of Romania in 2012, Crin Antonescu, a candidate backed by the ruling PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition and the incumbent mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, who ran as an independent. The CURS and Avantgarde exit polls conducted without the results in the Diaspora, have placed Antonescu and Dan on close positions in the ranking. They are followed by the ex-PSD leader and former Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, who also ran as an independent. A phone survey carried out by INSCOP has the same ranking: George Simion 36.2%, Crin Antonescu 21.5%, Nicuşor Dan 20.6% and Victor Ponta 17.1%. After the exit-polls, George Simion said quote “this is not an election win, but a victory of the Romanian dignity” unquote. “Those who have voiced their opinion at the polls, have conveyed a gesture of hope”, the candidate of election alliance, ‘Romania forward!’ Crin Antonescu said pleading for unity. The independent candidate Nicusor Dan said in turn, “politicians still have a long way to go until they make it to the aspirations of the communities they represent, and this is a new beginning“. Roughly 9.6 million Romanians, accounting for 53% of the total number on constituency lists went to the polls on Sunday. The number is higher than the turnout in the November election cancelled by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the election process was rigged. The number of the Romanians who cast their ballots abroad, 970 thousand, was also higher than in November last year. Voters in urban Romania have outnumbered their village counterparts by two million. 11 candidates were vying for the presidential seat, four independents and seven backed by various parties and alliances.

OBSERVERS A team of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe that will remain in Romania until May 25^th, on Monday is going to present a couple of preliminary conclusions, which are to be followed by a final report on the presidential election in Romania – the head of the observing mission, Eoghan Murphy said on Sunday. According to him every aspect related to the election process is going to be assessed along with the political background and the way campaigns are being carried out both in the media and online. The OSCE team, which has been in Romania since March 25^th upon the invitation of the Romanian authorities is made up of 13 members of the main team and 22 observers covering the entire Romanian territory. Also as an observer monitoring the presidential election in Romania on May 4 is the Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Election Commission, James Trainor who on Saturday held talks with the country’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu. The Romanian Prime Minister gave assurances that the country meets all the required democratic criteria for staging elections and the government is being involved in all organizational activities in Romania and abroad.

MAE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is cautioning the Romanians in France or those planning to travel to that country that trade unions in the country’s railway system have made an appeal for a one-week strike starting Monday. A series of major disturbances in the country’s rail traffic is expected and passengers are advised to visit the webpage of the French Railway Company for updates. The Romanians in France can ask for assistance by calling Romania’s General Consulate in Paris as well as those in Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg.

TENNIS the Romanian-Russian pair Sorana Cirstea/Anna Kalinskaya has won the doubles finals of the tennis tournament in Madrid. The two outperformed in the finals Elis Martens of Belgium and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a three setter, 6-7, 6-2, 12-10. This is Sorana’s sixth title in doubles contest in her career but the first after a pause of six years. For their performance the winners will be rewarded with 1000 WTA points and 400 thousand Euros.

(bill)