Romanians abroad show up for the most important presidential elections in the last 30 years

Romanians abroad have mobilized massively to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections.

Update: By Sunday afternoon (15:00 Bucharest time), over 1.2 million Romanians have voted abroad for the country's next president. That's some 220,000 more votes than the overall total in the first round.

The countries with the largest turnout are Italy (210,000), Germany (196,000), the UK (186,000), and Spain (140,000). Over 127,000 Romanians voted in Moldova. Strong mobilization was also recorded across the Atlantic. Some 18,500 Romanians voted in the US and 12,200 in Canada.

Live turnout data is available here.

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The vote in Diaspora started on Friday morning, and by Saturday evening (at 19:00), over 609,000 Romanians had already cast their votes. The turnout is almost 90% higher than the one recorded at the same time in the first round.

Over 100,000 Romanians have already voted in the UK while Germany and Italy were close with 97,000 voters each. Over 70,000 Romanians also voted in the Republic of Moldova and more than 65,000 in Spain. More than 15,000 Romanians also went to the polls in the US and Canada.

If this trend continues on Sunday, a record number of over 1.5 million Romanians could vote abroad in this election round, which would set a new record.

In the first round, between May 2 and May 4, over 973,000 Romanians voted abroad. Over 60% of their votes went to George Simion and 25% went to Nicusor Dan. This time, however, the record turnout could also signal a more balanced distribution of votes, as many Romanians living abroad were mobilized by the prospect of their home country making a U-turn after over three decades of democracy.

A high turnout is also expected in the country, where voting starts on Sunday morning at 7:00 and ends at 21:00. The domestic turnout was close to 8.6 million in the first round.

The opinion polls released in the last week show a very tight race between the two candidates, despite the wide margin in George Simion’s favor recorded in the first round. In these conditions, every vote counts, and a large participation both in the country and abroad could tilt the scales in Nicusor Dan’s favor.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / George Calin)