On Sunday, November 24, Romania is holding the first round of its presidential election. Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time and will close at 9:00 p.m.
The first-round ballot includes 14 candidates, though one of them—former Prime Minister Ludovic Orban—has withdrawn his candidacy and urged his supporters to back Elena Lasconi, leader of the center-right opposition alliance, Save Romania Union (USR).
Additionally, voting at overseas polling stations began on Friday. As of Saturday, more than 100,000 Romanian citizens abroad had already cast their votes.
According to polls, George Simion, leader of the opposition right-wing AUR party, is currently in the lead.
The incumbent president, Klaus Iohannis, a representative of the National Liberals, has already served two consecutive terms and is ineligible to run again.
