'Romania's Donald Trump' eyes presidential palace with electoral race too close to call

A 38-year-old former football hooligan is the preferred candidate of disillusioned voters as the country goes to the polls today.

- Kim Willsher in Bucharest explains why

Under the gilt ceiling and crystal chandeliers of Romania’s Cotroceni presidential palace, Nicuşor Dan, one of two men hoping to be the next occupant of the lavish building, is doing what normal politicians do: explaining his programme, answering questions, addressing voters.

As mayor of Bucharest, Dan knows what is expected of him, but he is alone on the stage. What was billed as a “debate” is a one-man show.

George Simion, the other candidate in today’s second-round vote, cancelled or declined invitations to debate Dan so often last week that Romanian media took to showing an empty chair with his name on it.

This particular evening, the 38-year-old far-right candidate is on a whistlestop tour of European capitals to whip up support among the Romanian diaspora that helped him to a first-round victory two weeks ago. This election, viewed as the most pivotal moment for the country since it dispatched Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu by firing squad in 1989, has been an odd business.

As polling day approached, there were no rallies, no meetings, few election posters and very little leafleting or public lobbying in the Romanian capital beyond the television stations.

The contest has pitted 55-year-old Dan, a serious centrist who is pro-EU, pro-Nato and pro-west, against Simion, a former football hooligan nicknamed the Romanian Donald Trump. A disruptive, ultra-nationalist admirer of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Simion promises Maga-style politics and an end to military aid to Ukraine.

Last week seven former US ambassadors to Romania warned that his programme would reverse 35 years of progress and presented “a danger to democracy, freedom and prosperity”.