Romanians vote in presidential redo after voided election sparked deep political crisis

Bucharest: Romanians are casting ballots Sunday in a critical presidential election redo after last year’s annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Eleven candidates are vying for the presidency and a May 18 runoff is expected. Polls opened at 7 am (0400 GMT) and will close at 9 pm (1800 GMT). By 10 am local time, 1.8 million people — about 10% of eligible voters — had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with a massive 425,000 coming from voters abroad.

Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Like many countries in the EU, anti-establishment

sentiment is running high in Romania.