Update: Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan won the Romanian presidential election on May 18, according to the official vote count. With 98.5% of the ballots counted, Nicusor Dan had 54.17% of the votes, 900,000 more than his opponent, nationalist George Simion.

A record turnout both in the country and abroad helped Dan come back from 1.88 million votes behind in the first round. His victory shows that the majority of Romanians still support Romania’s pro-EU choice.

Thousands gathered in downtown Bucharest to cheer Nicusor Dan’s victory. "This is your victory," Dan told his supporters as he went to greet them shortly after midnight. He also urged them to remain involved and support him in his quest to rebuild Romania.

Moldova's President Maia Sandu was the first international leader to congratulate Nicusor Dan for his victory. Close to 88% of the votes in Moldova went to him.

George Simion, who claimed victory when the polls closed on Sunday evening, hasn’t officially conceded.

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Romanians showed up in record numbers to vote in the second round of the presidential elections, both in the country and abroad.

The exit poll results presented on Sunday evening pointed to a strong lead for Bucharest’s pro-EU mayor Nicusor Dan (54%-46%), but are only relevant for the domestic vote.

Both candidates claimed victory in their first statements, as nationalist George Simion hopes the Diaspora vote could tilt the scales in his favor.

Over 11.64 million Romanians, representing 64.72% of those registered in the electoral registry, went to vote. This is the highest turnout since 1996. In the country, the number of voters was close to 10 million, 1.4 million higher than in the first round, while a record 1.645 million Romanians voted abroad, compared with 973,000 in the first round.

“In today's elections, a community of Romanians seeking profound change in Romania emerged victorious,” said Nicusor Dan in his first speech after the polls closed at 21:00. “A community that wants the functioning of state institutions. A community that wants to reduce corruption. A community that wants a prosperous economic environment for Romanians. A community that wants a society of dialogue and not a society of hate.”

“There is also a community that lost today's elections, a community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania so far, and a community that is so outraged that it believes that the solution for Romania right now is revolution,” he added. “I want to assure all of you, both those who voted for me and those who did not vote for me, that I will do everything in my power so that the Romanian state finally serves the citizens of this country. Starting tomorrow, all of us, together, must begin the reconstruction of Romania.”

His opponent, George Simion, also claimed victory: "We are the clear winners of these elections. We claim victory on behalf of the Romanian people." He added: "I thank those who, from home or abroad, chant my name and the millions of people who made possible a victory, according to our estimates, of over 400,000 votes over our competitor, but it is not my victory. It is the victory of the Romanian people, humiliated, robbed and lied to so many times, until now. It is the victory of a man who was supposed to be the President of Romania, it is the victory of Călin Georgescu."

Simion is probably counting on the massive vote in Diaspora, where he got a massive score of over 60% in the first round, compared with Nicusor Dan's 25%.

The first results have already been centralized. With 56% of the ballots counted, Nicusor Dan has a narrow lead (50.9% to 49.1%). However, the votes in the big cities and those in Diaspora are expected to come in later, and they will decide the winner.

Partial results are available here.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Adriana Neagoe, Cordin Unici)