(ANSA-AFP) - BUCHAREST, 10 MAG - Thousands rallied in
Romania's capital Friday to demand a commitment to the country's
pro-European path ahead of next week's presidential run-off,
after a far-right candidate came out on top in the initial vote.
The rally came after George Simion, an EU critic who opposes
sending aid to neighbouring Ukraine, comfortably topped the
first round of a tense presidential rerun, with opinion polls
suggesting he will win the run-off. The vote will be closely
watched in Brussels, Washington and Moscow following the rare
annulment of last year's election after claims over Russian
interference. Around 20,000 people gathered in Bucharest,
organisers said, many waving Romanian and EU flags and banners
that read "You don't vote, you don't count". Simion will face
off against the pro-EU centrist candidate Nicusor Dan in the
run-off. "We can't vote for Simion under any circumstances.
Europe is our home," the writer Ioana Nicolaie told AFP at the
rally. "We are in a dramatic situation, we must all go to the
polls," said Nicolaie, wife of the renowned writer Mircea
Cartarescu, warning that the country's hard-fought accession to
the European Union would be lost.
Simion, who heads the nationalist AUR party, has vowed to
demand "compensation for Romania's participation in the war
effort so far". An avowed fan of US President Donald Trump, the
38-year-old won 40.9 percent of the first-round vote on May 4,
well ahead of Dan with 20.9 percent. In an interview on Friday,
Dan said he respected the "five million isolationist voters" who
support Simion, but warned that they had "been duped", calling
on people to head to the polls. (ANSA-AFP).
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