A weekend of elections across Europe saw Romania elect pro-EU candidate Nicușor Dan the country’s next president, centre-right and right-wing parties take centre stage in Portugal, and a liberal-centrist candidate proceed to the second round of Poland’s presidential elections to face off against a conservative nationalist.
Romania
Romania has elected centre-left mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan to serve as the eastern European country’s next president, after winning 53.6 percent of the vote against his rival, nationalist candidate George Simion, who received 46.4 percent.
The result was received both internationally and domestically as a surprise, in light of Simion’s resounding victory in the first round of voting on May 4.
The election saw the highest voter turnout in the country of 19 million in 25 years, with approximately 10 million casting ballots, and came five months after the initial vote was annulled over allegations of Russian interference.
That result saw right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu secure an impressive result, but he was later banned from yesterday’s rerun after being charged with various crimes such as inciting actions against the constitutional order and initiating or supporting organisations of a fascist, racist, or xenophobic character.
Portugal
Meanwhile in Portugal, the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, emerged as the winners with 32.1 percent of the vote – falling short of an outright majority. They result won them 86 seats in Portugal’s 230-seat assembly.
However, the surprise of the election came from the right-wing Chega Party, which secured a record 22 percent of the vote, leaving it tied with the Socialist Party at 58 seats each.
The result was widely perceived as bringing to an end “bipartisanship in Portugal,” as Chega’s leader, André Ventura, said yesterday.
“We didn’t win this election but we’ve made history,” Mr Ventura said.
Poland
The first round of voting in Poland’s presidential election saw liberal-centrist candidate and current Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski leading at 31.1 percent, followed closely by conservative nationalist Karol Nawrocki at 29.1 percent.
With neither candidate receiving a majority, another round of voting will take place June 1.
While Poland’s president has little sway over the daily governance of the country, he can veto bills passed by the country’s parliament, a mechanism used extensively by current PiS ally, President Andrzej Duda.
However, the strength of the right-wing vote across Poland has generated headlines, with the candidates finishing in third and fourth place both existing on that end of the political spectrum: Sławomir Mentzen of the Confederation (Konderacja) party receiving 14.81 percent of the vote and Grzegorz Braun, who was expelled from Confederation after choosing to run himself, receiving 6.34 percent.
The 67 percent turnout was the highest ever recorded in the first round of a Polish presidential election, beating the previous record of 64 percent set in 1995.