Hungarian minority plays key role in Nicușor Dan's Romanian presidential win

High voter turnout, especially among young people and women, helped Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan win Romania's presidential runoff, defeating the hard-right George Simion.

High voter turnout, including many young people and women heading to the ballot box, was one of the decisive factors that overturned the first round score and propelled Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan across the line to win Sunday's presidential runoff in Romania.The Romanian Hungarian minority also played a strong part, as in both rounds, the counties where they live were overwhelmingly in favour of Dan.That's according to István Székely, the vice president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), who said those factors meant a victory for Dan rather than "the extremist and anti-Hungarian George Simion."Székely told Euronews that Dan could launch a centre-right presidential movement, similar to that of Emmanuel Macron in France, but he does not believe that the country's current party structure will allow for immediate change.The leader of the Hungarian minority group noted that both candidates represented radical change. "It's true that they wanted to take the country in opposite directions, but the need for radical change unites them", Székely said. "With the current composition of the parliament, it will be difficult to meet this demand, but at the same time, I think early elections are out of the question for various reasons." But regarding what happened at the polls, Székely admitted that the presidential election did finish according to the RMDSZ's predictions. He said the alternative candidate they supported against George Simion did not win, but voters understood the election's stakes and chose instead to back the pro-Europe Dan. Former Romanian-Hungarian MP: 'Orbán shot himself in the foot'"A victory for George Simion would have been dangerous in any case, given his record and aggressiveness," said analyst and lawyer, Péter Eckstein-Kovács, a well-respected minister and former senator in the Romanian parliament."This danger was felt by the vast majority of Hungarians in Transylvania. They voted for Nicușor not out of fear, but out of common sense. If there is a dangerous person, let's shoot him," the former RMDSZ politician said when asked if Hungarians in Transylvania had anything to fear."We will be left with about five million xenophobes in the future. It is not easy to digest." George Simion, the hard-right, nationalist leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), had election flyers printed with a photo of himself alongside one of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with the slogan "The Romanians can count on the Hungarians in their fight for Christianity and sovereignty."While saying he does not interfere in Romania’s election, Orbán appeared to support Simion in the runoff, while the Romanian nationalist candidate repeatedly tried to obtain the Hungarian prime minister’s endorsement and thus his influence on the Romanian Hungarian voters for the battle in which every ballot counted.As part of his strategy, Simion recalibrated his nationalist political platform in the second round, appealing to the Hungarian community — known for its disciplined approach to voting — and their party.During the campaign for the second round, political sources in Budapest told Euronews that emissaries from Simion’s campaign had been in contact with Orbán's government, ahead of the decisive vote last Sunday                Just as the runoff campaign began, Orbán referenced Simion in a speech in the Hungarian town of Tihany and then on social media saying that while “Romania’s elections are none of our business ... we assure the Romanian people and their future president: Hungary stands for unity, not division.""We will not support any form of political isolation against Romania or its leaders. Romanians can count on Hungarians in their fight for Christianity and sovereignty,” Orbán emphasised.Yet Orbán's statement drew immediate backlash from UDMR/RMDSZ President Kelemen Hunor, who responded in a Facebook video that “Simion is not a friend of the Hungarians — and never will be.”“George Simion is not a sovereignist; he is a charlatan. Each cell (in his body) represents the principle that Hungarians don’t have a place in Romania,” Hunor said. Orbán then spoke with Hunor by phone, reiterating that Hungary does not interfere in Romania’s election and that ultimately the Hungarian party’s position prevails in this debate: “the Hungarian government deems that Romania’s Hungarian Democratic Party’s position to be decisive, the interest of the Transylvanian Hungarians is indicative.""We have always cooperated with all Romanian leaders, of all times, for the progress of the Transylvanian Hungarians’ life and existence," Orbán said.On Tuesday, Eckstein-Kovács told Euronews that "Orbán shot himself in the foot with his pro-Simion comments in Tihany,""He did so after the RMDSZ, the civil sector, and church leaders had all urged support for Nicușor. He believed that Transylvanians loved him so much that they were unthinkingly following his recommendations and growing the anti-EU far-right party group. Well, it didn't work," Eckstein-Kovács added. "The Transylvanians voted against Simion in their own well-perceived interest. But very much so. The Orbán effect has been shattered," he said.Orbán has since congratulated Dan on his victory in the Romanian presidential elections, saying in a post on X he looked forward to "working together on strengthening the cooperation between Hungary and Romania, to the benefit of our peoples."No second chance for Romanian democracy?Historian Stefano Bottoni believes the RMDSZ found it challenging to walk the tightrope and satisfy both Budapest and Bucharest after Orbán seemed to pledge support for Simion. Bottoni described the Hungarian prime minister's move not so much an international violation but rather a political mistake."It's a transnational space; everybody interferes in everything. I don't see a serious sovereignty problem here," Bottoni told Euronews. According to Bottoni, Orbán's mistake was in thinking that what works in Hungary will also work in Romania."The RMDSZ has found itself between two seats: there is Bucharest, where it is part of a government and a long-established member of the political elite, and there is Budapest, where it has very different expectations and it cannot meet both," Bottoni explained. Bottoni stressed that what Orbán offered was an alliance that would have been critical for Romania's Hungarian community. "The fact that the Hungarian prime minister did not see this or did not care is a cause for reflection, because it has been a long time since Viktor Orbán made such a serious political mistake in Hungarian-Hungarian political relations," he said.The fact that two candidates critical of the political system made it to the second round also shows that mainstream parties failed to take advantage of the reprieve offered by the runoff. "It is clear that something has to change," Bottoni added."The only way for the democratic political system to survive this crisis is to come up with something: whether it's a new coalition, new formations, new ideas, a new style of governance. I think that Romanian democracy has a chance now and it is very important not to miss it, because there may not be a second one."In Romania, the president's office is more than just ceremonial. In addition to approving laws passed by parliament and heading the military, the president is also in charge of foreign policy, representing the country at the European Council.