In Romania toward the Ciolacu-Georgescu runoff.

(ANSA) - BUCAREST, NOV 25 - As was expected, Social Democratic Premier Marcel Ciolacu (Psd) won in the first round of today's presidential election in Romania. There will need to be a runoff, however, to know who will succeed the outgoing president, Liberal Klaus Iohannis, who led the Balkan country for 10 years in two five-year terms. But the surprise of the evening came from Calin Georgescu, an independent candidate but on extreme right-wing positions, who according to the first still partial results seems to be closely trailing Premier Ciolacu, leaving distanced in third place George Simion, the other far-right candidate, a staunch Trumpian and admirer of Gorgia Meloni, whom polls saw as Ciolacu's second and likely challenger in the second round. With 40 percent of the ballots counted, Ciolacu is given 23 percent, trailed by Georgescu with an astonishing 22 percent, while Simion, leader of the ultra-right sovereignist Aur party, is at 15 percent. He is followed by Elena Lasconi, leader of the center-right Usr formation, and former liberal premier Nicolae Ciuca, given 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Georgescu, pro-Russian and accused of anti-Semitism and anti-Western impulses, was virtually unknown politically until the day of his candidacy.
    The percentage difference between Ciolacu and Georgescu remains minimal, although it appears increasingly likely that it will be the two of them who will challenge each other on the ballot in two weeks. What has emerged from this first round, however, is the strong assertion of the far-right, which placed its candidates in second and third place in today's vote, and which will be able to perform well in Romania's upcoming parliamentary elections next Sunday, December 1. Good voter turnout, which at 53 percent was significantly higher than the 42.2 percent turnout for the previous presidential elections in 2019. "The result of the first round confirms that we have done what the country needs," Premier Ciolacu, who remains the favorite for ultimate success, said in the evening. It will now be crucial to see how the right-wing forces will move for the Dec. 8 challenge, and what moves will be made by Lasconi in particular, who has announced that he will talk "with all the right-wing forces." Of course, there will also be to distribute the votes of independent Mircea Geoana (5 percent), a former NATO vice-president who presented himself as an independent, and the representative of the Magyar minority, Hunor Kelemen. (ANSA).