Romania Inside a divided country on eve of the election

Collecting her 10-year-old son from school in Bucharest's crumbling Ferentari neighbourhood, Georgeta Petre was sure which candidate she would vote for on Sunday and why. "Everyone before him just... lied," she said. "Look around: we can't continue like this. I can't afford food, or clothes for the children. I'm voting for George Simion. He will be different."

- Jon Henley and Andrei Popoviciu Bucharest

Twenty minutes' drive away, outside the glass-and-concrete offices of his employer, Cosmin Ispas, 31, a corporate lawyer, was equally clear. "I get that people are pissed off," he said. "But they don't see that the change Simion is proposing is an illusion. It's just words: sovereignty, tradition... Nicuşor Dan may not be perfect, but he's serious, responsible. The choice between him and fascism isn't hard."

Days before a pivotal presidential election rerun that could set the face of their country for a generation, Romania's voters are profoundly polarised. Cristian Pîrvulescu, a political scientist, said: "For the first time in recent history, Romania is in real danger."

Simion, a hard-talking, Maga-style ultranationalist, won almost twice as many first-round votes as Dan, the independent mayor of Bucharest. In recent days the gap has closed, with the more low-key Dan, a socially conservative mathematician known for his battles against corrupt property developers, performing strongly in a head-to-head TV debate.