With the support of voters in large cities across the country and against the background of the high election turnout, Nicușor Dan became the winner of the presidential run-off.

Dan finished the first round with close to 2 million votes fewer than George Simion but managed to win the second round with 829,589 more votes than his competitor, data from the Electoral Authority (AEP) shows. While he narrowed the gap separating him from Simion in the diaspora vote, the AUR leader was nonetheless preferred by most of those who cast their ballot outside the country.

Most pundits expected a higher turnout to favor Dan, and voters showed up to cast their options in the highest number seen since the 2014 elections. A total of 11.6 million people voted in the country and abroad, amounting to 64.72 % of those who could vote, similar to the 2014 turnout when 64.11% voted.

Nicușor Dan won in the counties of Bihor, Satu Mare, Maramureș, Sălaj, Cluj, Alba, Mureș, Sibiu, Harghita, Covasna, Brașov, Prahova, Ilfov, București, Iași, Galați, Constanța, Timiș, Dolj, and the capital, while George Simion won in Bistrița Năsăud, Suceava, Botoșani, Neamț, Bacău, Vaslui, Vrancea, Buzău, Brăila, Tulcea, Ialomița, Călărași, Giurgiu, Teleorman, Argeș, Vâlcea, Olt, Gorj, Hunedoara, Arad, Caraș Severin, and Mehedinți.

In Bucharest, where close to 1.1 million people voted (1,091,406 voters), Dan won all of the city’s districts, even District 5, which during the first round went to Simion.

District 1:

Nicușor Dan – 105,354 votes/ 72.49%

George Simion – 39,982 votes/ 27.51%

District 2:

Nicușor Dan – 126,519 votes/ 69.44%

George Simion – 55,674 votes/ 30.56%

District 3:

Nicușor Dan – 159,426 votes/ 71.48%

George Simion – 63.616 votes/ 28.52%

District 4:

Nicușor Dan – 115,230 votes/ 68.25%

George Simion – 53,598 votes/ 31.75%

District 5:

Nicușor Dan – 81,852 votes/ 59.30%

George Simion – 56,186 votes/ 40.70%

District 6:

Nicușor Dan – 160,910 votes/ 73.71%

George Simion – 57,395 votes/ 26.29%

Dan also secured a win in the counties with a significant ethnic Hungarian population. The central Romania counties of Covasna and Harghita, where Crin Antonescu, the ruling coalition’s candidate, won during the first round, voted massively for Dan, who had scores of over 80% in Covasna (84.42%) and over 90% in Harghita (90.78%). After the first round, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) announced its support for Dan, casting Simion as the “anti-Hungarian presidential candidate.”

Dan also had a good lead in Cluj, where it won 70% of the votes, and won with over 60% of the votes in the counties of Bihor, Satu Mare, Sălaj, Mureș, and Brașov.

George Simion scored his best result in the southern Romania county of Gorj, where it won 61.48% of the votes, or 95,439 votes cast. This is a county where he gathered close to 50% of the votes in the first round and where former Social Democrat Party (PSD) PM Victor Ponta placed second, with some 21% of the votes. Among the large urban areas where Simion won were Giurgiu, Târgu Jiu, and Drobeta Turnu Severin.

The diaspora vote

Diaspora voters turned out in high numbers to cast their ballot, with more than 1.6 million people voting outside of Romania in the second round, compared to more than 970,000 in the first round.

Of the 1,633,549 votes cast, George Simion won 55.86% or 912,553 votes, while Dan gathered 44.14% or 720,996 votes.

As it happened during the first round, Simion dominated in many European countries, while Dan gathered more votes in the United States, Canada, and Moldova.

In Germany, Simion won 68.3% of the votes (190,099 votes), while Dan had 31.69% of the votes (88,192 votes).

In Spain, Simion had a score of 67.98% (128,854 votes) vs Dan’s 32.02% (60,698 votes).

The AUR leader also won in Italy, where he won the vote of 189,891 Romanians - 66.78%, while Dan had 94,443 votes – 32.22%.

Simion secured a win in the UK as well, where he was voted by 58.46% of the electorate (156,701 votes), while Dan secured 41.54% of the votes (111,343 votes).

France and Austria were two other countries where Simion won, with 57.25% (51,409 votes) and 66.09% (34,979 votes) respectively.

In his turn, Dan managed a massive win in Moldova, where he gathered 88% of the votes (138,320 votes), and counted among the countries won Hungary, with 92% of the votes (10,136 votes) and Ukraine, with 75.29 %.

In the US, Dan was chosen by 17,859 voters or 69.88% of the electorate, while in Canada, by 10,454 voters or 68.97% of those who cast their option.

(Illustration: Autoritatea Electorala Permanenta)

simona@romania-insider.com