Romania in shock after far-right populist enters presidential election's runoff with most votes

Romania’s political landscape is reeling after a little-known, far-right populist secured the first round in the presidential election, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister and a reformist politician. Electoral data showed Monday, Calin Georgescu was ahead after nearly all ballots were counted with around 22.94% of the vote. Elena Lasconi of the progressive Save Romania Union party followed with 19.17%. She beat by a slim margin incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, who stood at 19.15%. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, took 13.87%.