How George Simion became a right-wing ‘messiah’ for Romanians abroad

Romanians living abroad are poised to help usher the far right into power back home.

Nationalist firebrand George Simion stormed to first place in Sunday’s presidential vote, taking about 40 percent of the overall vote and securing his place in the runoff.

But his margin of victory among the diaspora was even wider, scoring the backing of more than 60 percent of Romanians abroad. The runner-up, centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, netted just 25 percent of the expat vote.

A potent cocktail of ultranationalist rhetoric, anti-establishment messaging and relentless TikTok campaigning helped Simion clean up abroad. And with less than two weeks before the second round of the election, that could propel him to the presidency.

“I don’t know if those in the diaspora understand that through their vote they can destroy this country,” renowned Romanian economist Cristian Păun warned local media Monday.

‘Savior, leader, messiah’

About four million Romanians live and work abroad, seeking better economic and educational opportunities outside the Eastern European country of 19 million people.

Italy, Spain and Germany are home to the biggest numbers of Romanian expats. In all three countries, voters backed Simion in droves, with more than 70 percent of votes cast going to the hard-right leader.

Many are involved in blue-collar, often low-paid work and have found a political home in the policies and rhetoric of Simion, a staunchly anti-establishment rabble-rouser who has blamed many of the country’s woes on its stagnant political class.

“Usually the ones in Spain, Italy, most of them are seasonal workers, so the ones who left the country because of what they consider to be very low socioeconomic conditions for them,” said Oana-Valentina Suciu, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Bucharest.

Although Romania’s economy has rallied significantly in the decades since it emerged from Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist dictatorship, the country is still dogged by corruption and lower living standards than wealthier western and northern Europe.

“Simion was the only one who literally visited poor areas in Romania and Romanian communities in the diaspora, so he was the one who apparently paid attention to them — even if actually the solutions that he proposes are completely unrealistic,” Suciu said.

Simion — who supports U.S. President Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda — wants to unify Romania and Moldova, has called to terminate allied military aid to Ukraine and pledged he will break EU law if he disagrees with diktats from Brussels.

“What he proposes to them seems like a very easy solution for their problems,” Suciu said. “That’s why they go for a sort of savior, leader, messiah.”

For other voters, she said, supporting Simion was less about his actual policies and more to do with opposing the establishment.

“They [Romanian expats] always go against the system, irrespective of who the candidates are,” she said. “Usually they go for what they consider to be an outsider.”

When Simion faces off against opponent Nicușor Dan in two weeks’ time, it will be the first time a candidate from one of the mainstream parties — the social democrats or national liberals — did not make it to the runoff. (Ultranationalist Călin Georgescu and centrist Elena Lasconi did qualify for the second round in November, before that election was annulled.)

“The vote is a clear rejection of the ruling coalition. Both Simion and Dan are seen as ‘anti-system,’ even though they are diametrically opposed politically,” said Oana Lungescu, former chief spokesperson for NATO and fellow at defense and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute. “Romanians will face a stark choice on May 18, between an ultranationalist and a pro-Western candidate.”

The TikTok factor

Romania’s election last November was canceled after the authorities uncovered a Russia-style influence operation on social media, specifically TikTok, in favor of Georgescu.

And it appears social media could ultimately play an outsized role in this election too. Simion has used social media to great effect to reach Romanians abroad, with 1.4 million followers on TikTok. As of Monday, his videos have been liked 30 million times.

“He [Simion] is highly active on the social platforms, especially the ones such as Instagram and TikTok that do not need too much attention, you just scroll and see images and messages,” Suciu said.

Vlad, a Romanian expat living in Belgium who preferred not to use his surname, said Simion’s victory “would’ve been impossible without TikTok.”

“He is a TikTok product and launched his whole movement on the back of Covid disinformation, among other things,” he said.

Simion’s AUR party fanned conspiracies during the Covid-19 pandemic, opposing government measures to limit the spread of the virus and spreading falsehoods about vaccines to ride a wave of anti-science sentiment.

“Because of TikTok basically, he kind of exploded during the pandemic … he does lives on TikTok all the time, he films himself every-fucking-where, so he kind of gives off this really kind of genuine persona that he built,” Vlad said.

Most Romanians living in the diaspora were not well-educated, he added, and susceptible to Simion’s populist rhetoric and social media outreach.

“The vast majority of them, it’s actually people who don’t have such a high level of education, [and] work in really tough, menial jobs … we’re talking about truck drivers, we’re talking about construction workers, people who look after the elderly,” he said.

“They were always kind of living in their bubbles in their communities, sending all their money they were making back home and … living fairly lonely lives,” he added.

Simion bypassed traditional media to speak directly to those disenchanted diaspora voters, promising to hear their concerns — and they returned the favor on Sunday, helping to elevate him to first place, and potentially all the way to the presidency.

This story has been updated.