BUCHAREST
\nStill reeling from this week\u2019s shock developments, Romanians return to the polls to elect their parliament on Sunday, with the far right tipped to win, potentially heralding a shift in the NATO country\u2019s foreign policy.
\nRomania was thrown into turmoil after a top court ordered a recount of the first round of last week\u2019s presidential election won by Calin Georgescu, a little-known far-right admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\nDespite accusations of Russian influence and alleged interference via TikTok, Sunday\u2019s parliamentary elections were going ahead as planned.
\nWhile the recounting of more than nine million ballots appeared to proceed quickly, people on the streets of Bucharest expressed worries about the recent twists and turns.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s going on now doesn\u2019t seem very democratic,\u201d Gina Visan told media at a Christmas market in Bucharest.
\n\u201cThey should respect our vote. We\u2019re disappointed, but we\u2019re used to this kind of behaviour,\u201d said the 40-year-old nurse, echoing voter\u2019s distrust in traditional parties.
\nPolling stations open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 9:00 pm, with an exit poll due to be published shortly afterwards.The first official results are expected later in the evening.- Confusion, anger and fear –
\nAmid allegations of irregularities and possible interference in the election, concerns over the transparency of the electoral process have emerged, with independent observers being denied access to the recount.
\nAccording to Septimius Parvu of the Expert Forum think-tank, the recount order by Romania\u2019s Constitutional Court had \u201cmany negative effects\u201d, including undermining confidence in institutions.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already recounted votes in Romania in the past, but not millions of votes, with parliamentary elections in the middle of it all,\u201d said Parvu.
\n\u201cNo decision made during this crucial period should limit the right of Romanians to vote freely nor further put at risk the credibility of the election process,\u201d the US embassy in Romania stressed.
\nBut the top court\u2019s decision is likely to boost the far right, Parvu said.The NATO member of 19 million people has so far resisted rising nationalism in the region, but experts say it faces an unprecedented situation as anger over soaring inflation and fears of being dragged into Russia\u2019s war in neighbouring Ukraine have mounted.
\nGeorge Sorin in Bucharest said he hopes the far right will score well, claiming the current parliament had mostly served the interests of \u201cBrussels and Ukraine\u201d instead of \u201cnational interests\u201d.
\nOutgoing President Klaus Iohannis said Sunday\u2019s vote would determine Romania\u2019s future \u2014 whether it will \u201cremain a country of freedom and openness or collapse into toxic isolation and a dark past\u201d.
\nFar right eyes breakthrough -Romania\u2019s political landscape has been shaped by two major parties for the past three decades, but analysts predict a fragmented parliament to emerge from Sunday\u2019s vote, influencing the chances of forming a future government.
\nPolls show that three far-right parties are predicted to claim more than 30 percent of the vote share combined.
\nAmong them is the AUR party, whose leader George Simion won nearly 14 percent of the presidential vote, which actually topped the latest polls on more than 22 percent.
\n\u201dWe are here, standing, alive, more numerous than ever, and with a huge opportunity ahead of us,\u201d Simion \u2014 a fan of US President-elect Donald Trump \u2014 recently told his supporters.
\nThe Party of Young People (POT), which was founded in 2023 and has meanwhile thrown its support behind Georgescu, could reach the five-percent threshold to enter parliament and there is also the extreme-right SOS Romania party, led by firebrand Diana Sosoaca.
\nIn recent years, around 30 percent of Romanians have embraced far-right views, even if they have not always voted for them in elections.
\nElena Lasconi\u2019s pro-European USR party has warned that the country faces \u201ca historic confrontation\u201d between those who wish to \u201cpreserve Romania\u2019s young democracy\u201d and those who want to \u201creturn to the Russian sphere of influence\u201d.
\nThe ruling Social Democrats (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), which suffered a defeat in the presidential ballot, have centred their campaigns on their \u201cexperience\u201d. \u201cThe political scene is completely reset,\u201d said political scientist Remus Stefureac, adding that 2025 \u201cwill be extremely complicated in terms of security risks\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUCHAREST Still reeling from this week\u2019s shock developments, Romanians return to the polls to elect their parliament on Sunday, with the far right tipped to win, potentially heralding a shift in the NATO country\u2019s foreign policy. Romania was thrown into turmoil after a top court ordered a recount of the first round of last week\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-446860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n