Nationalist candidate George Simion won the first round of Romania’s presidential election with some 40.1% of the vote, according to the preliminary results on Sunday.
In a late-night political thriller, the official count saw the outsider independent candidate Nicușor Dan come into second place and the run-off, leapfrogging the big-tent coalition candidate Crin Antonescu — a result shocking the traditional political establishment in the EU and NATO member state.
