Romanian Nationalist Wins First Round of Presidential Voting

George Simion, a right-wing nationalist who has promised to “Make Romania Great Again,” won the first round of his country’s presidential election on Sunday, bucking the recent trend of voters punishing candidates seen as friendly to President Trump.

With more than 98 percent of the votes cast inside Romania counted, Mr. Simion was far ahead of 10 rival candidates, garnering more than 40 percent. A partial count of the votes of Romanians living abroad, who generally tilt hard right, also gave Mr. Simion a big lead.

The results, though incomplete, ensured Mr. Simion a slot in a runoff on May 18 against the likely second-place finisher, Nicusor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

Unlike voters in Canada and Australia who in recent elections favored parties openly opposed to Mr. Trump, Romanians, by supporting Mr. Simion, rewarded one of Europe’s most vocal admirers of the MAGA movement.

Romanian voters also gave a strong rebuke to a decision in December by the country’s Constitutional Court to annul an earlier first round of the presidential ballot and to cancel the victory of Calin Georgescu, an ultranationalist. He was charged in February with various crimes, including illegal campaigning and involvement in the establishment of an organization “with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character.”

Mr. Georgescu, who was barred from competing in the rescheduled vote, voted on Sunday alongside Mr. Simion. Both men have cast themselves as champions of ordinary Romanians against a corrupt establishment.