SOURCES Romanian far-right prepares to contest presidential election if Simion loses

According to G4Media sources, representatives of AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians, a far-right nationalist party) and POT (Party of Young People, a minor allied party) have been working on a strategy for over a week to challenge the results of the second round of the presidential election on May 18, should George Simion (AUR’s presidential candidate) lose. All data from recent days confirms this information.

In this context, Simion shut down his official campaign account on TikTok on Saturday, after being accused that 60% of his presidential campaign content contained disinformation or manipulation. He also announced the closure of his Facebook account, claiming he wanted to respect the “day of silence” (Romania’s pre-election campaign silence) and urged “everyone to do the same.”

G4Media.ro published a video recording of a briefing addressed to delegates of the Party of Young People (POT), which is allied with AUR and George Simion. In messages shared within an internal communication group, POT delegates in Brăila (a city in southeastern Romania) are explicitly instructed to contest the election results in polling stations where George Simion performs poorly or where there are significant differences between the first and second round of voting, or a narrow margin compared to Nicușor Dan (Simion’s opponent, a center-right independent candidate and current mayor of Bucharest).

The groundwork for contesting the election also includes warnings and alleged irregularities made public by AUR in recent days, particularly concerning a “possible election fraud” in the diaspora, especially in the Republic of Moldova. However, the party has not presented any evidence to support these claims.

Strategy by AUR and POT to contest the elections:

• During the electoral process, they plan to invoke claims of “incorrect recording of voting results”, specifically that the four boxes allocated to the number of votes for each candidate were not filled out properly.

• Both AUR and POT representatives will file objections before the official vote record is signed, but only in polling stations where “the result is poor for the AUR candidate.”

• Instructions for AUR and POT delegates emphasize the importance of Section H of the vote record — the part dedicated to remarks and objections. It is stated that only if an objection is included in this section can a recount of the votes be requested later.

• The objective of the two parties is to create a procedural basis that would allow them to request vote recounts in stations where George Simion performs poorly.

Article is being updated.