Georgeta Petre collected her 10-year-old son from an elementary school in the collapsed Ferentari community in Bucharest, and is pretty sure she will vote on Sunday, and why.

"I hope he can change things," she said. "I hope he will do better. Everyone before him... lying. Look around - we can't. I can't afford food or children's clothes. I vote for George Simon. He will be different."

A twenty-minute drive away, chat with a group of colleagues outside the office of employer Cosmin Ispas (31-year-old corporate lawyer).

"I know people are angry," he said. "I know they want to change. But they can't see the change proposed by the change is a fantasy. It's just the words: sovereignty, tradition... NicuşorDan may not be perfect, but he is serious and responsible. The choice between him and fascism is not difficult."

A few days ago, a key presidential election replay could form a generational face for its own country, Romanian voters were profound, desperately polarized. "For the first time in recent history, Romania is facing real danger," said political scientist Cristian Pîrvulescu.

Simion is a sluggish, tenacious, magical super internationalist, and many observers fear that it might drag Romania into a firm pro-European trajectory so far, winning nearly twice the first-round votes for Bucharest’s independent mayor Dan.

The gap between the two has ended in recent days, a more low-key Dan, a socially conservative mathematician known for his fight against corrupt real estate developers in the capital, excelled in the chief television debate.

But the game was Said's defeat, - under the caretaker's government and experts predict that a simulated victory could lead to a far-right government in the near future - the country seems to have hurt the instability of instability and, worst of all, the most dramatic shift in the anti-system.

After the initial first round of the match last November, the far-right candidate stepped into the shoes of another supranationalist, Călin Georgescu, who was canceled amid allegations of Russian intervention and campaign financial violations, a serious criticism of global rights, which is the global rights of U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Georgescu won the vote from running around nowhere and was banned from participating in the replay.

On the southwest edge of the capital, Ferentari is often described as the poorest and most marginalized area of ​​the city. An estimated 80,000 people, many of them Roma, whose communist-era housing neighborhoods are rotting and disintegrating.

Poverty and unemployment are long-term; health care and health affairs; crime - drugs, prostitution, mob activities - prevail. More than 80% of residents are illegally connected to the power grid; more than 60% have no sewage because they are squatting.

Petre's monthly disability allowance (about £83), as well as disability allowance (about £83) for each of her three little children, and 250 lei. Like many at Ferentari, she expressed confidence in Simion, a one-off soccer super and nationalism agitator turned into a brave populist.

Tefan șErban, 69, sat on a bench with his friend Nicolae Carja, and said he had lived better under the leadership of former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. “We were a wealthy country at that time,” he said. “Industry, gasoline, natural gas, gold mines and debt-free.”

"We have a lot of debt. We've sold everything to foreigners. It's not easy for Simon; he's going to have to fight hard, it might take years. But I think he really wants to shaky - to make people's lives easier."

Doina Radu said Simion means “more jobs, better services, higher pensions.” She said he would have done better if he had promised. "That's really a top team," she said.

Simion's Aur Party "stands for Christian faith, for family and love for our country", and has exacerbated his remarks since sweeping the first round, considering him a "EU realist" rather than a skeptical person, supporting NATO members, not pro-Russian members.

But he is a vocal Trump fan who compared the EU to the Soviet Union, admired Viktor Orbàn (he called him a "role model"), just like Hungary's non-liberal prime minister who opposed aid to Ukraine. He said foreign companies are robbing Romania.

Simion was banned for calling for its reintegration into Romania and from Ukraine, which was also Romanian until 1940, because “systemic anti-Ukrainian activities… violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state.”

Simion is a common anti-VAXXER, believing that the “globalist elite” has swept the country. His remarks may be violent: He calls on competitors to "live", wondering what his critics "what will I do after May 19?" and threaten to sexually assault the far-right MP.

In an already heavily indebted country, the EU has the highest credit ratings of nearly debt and budget deficits, and its economic policies - state-owned utilities, cuts on public sector jobs and unpredictable performance, have seriously scared the market.

However, some of Romania's most vulnerable people, including the historically marginalized Roma community, the largest in Europe, see him as the Savior. "They were pushed into his arms," ​​said Nicu Dumitru, a democratic country of Rome, a non-governmental organization.

"They don't trust the system, he doesn't belong. They're rejected to see through his education," he said of his community. "They're disappointed and fantasized that they want a revolution and he's the only option." Almost 50% of Roma voted for Simion.

Even more shocking, Dumitru said, is that this is “has happened before.”

Public anger against corruption and ineffective mainstream politicians, high levels of inequality and poor service plays a clear role in the current rise of Simion and Georgescu: household income is one-third of the EU average; nearly 40% of Romania's 19 million people are at risk of deprivation.

However, Pîrvulescu, dean of the Romanian National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, pointed out that Romania's long history is also a factor in the far-right and fascist movement. "This is not a rich country, but it is not a poor country," he said.

Pîrvulescu said EU membership has brought huge economic benefits since 2007. Per capita GDP is greater than Hungary, Greece and Portugal. The minimum wage rose by 80%. But the appeal of nationalist authoritarianism is deeply rooted.

After the war, Ceauşescu created "national communism" around the profound nationalist glory of Romanian history. Until 2000, a dirty, Holocaust superhumanist entered the presidential runoff.

A poll by Princeton political professor Grigore Pop-Eleches found that voters who express “strong” on Cordeanu and Ceauşescu are four times more likely to vote than those who strongly dislike the two authoritative leaders.

But the current revival of the far right has also been fueled by Covid, with Simion’s Aur’s weapon turning it into a cultural war, the spread of conspiracy theories on social networks, including a Kremlin-sponsored hybrid war.

Sociologist and activist Gelu Duminică points to the experience of insufficient democracy. "We had a decade of democracy in the 1930s and then there were only three since the end of communism - for us, democracy still means 'we can do what we want'," he said.

Dan's voters insist they are all too aware of the importance of Sunday's vote. Back at the business park, Raluca is an IT worker in her thirties and demands not to be further confirmed, which is simple. It can define our future for the next 20 years. ”

Dan is a good candidate, saying, “He is pro-European. Not corrupt. Respect the rule of law. He did a lot for Bucharest: Repairing the water pipes, buses.” Her colleague Richard said Dan was the first mayor to “really solve the problem, not just patch it.”

Ionut Baban, 33, agreed. "Dan may not be a pleasant person, but he will make logical evidence-based decisions," he said. "Simion is a provocative provoker. Between mathematicians and a trumpet-loving rogue, I know my preference."

Few people doubt the consequences of a simulated victory. Elena Calistru, a civil society activist and co-founder of Sumgi Citizens NGOs, warned that this would “be responsible… for inciting something that does not exist.”

"The president enforces foreign policy and attends summits of EU leaders," she said. "This means in the next seven years' budget, defense, expansion (including Ukraine). The scope of interference is huge." At home, she is worried about the worst.

"The president is not particularly strong, but he has a very obvious pulpit that can be used to be a real player," she said. "He can send the bill back to Parliament. He appointed the Grand Justice and Intelligence appointments. He appointed the Prime Minister."

Crucially, if the MP rejects his proposal for the prime minister twice, as well as the center-left Social Democrats (PSD) and center-right liberals (PNL), his ruling coalition refuses to avoid new elections this month, he can also dissolve parliament.

Calistru and others believe this will likely lead to a minority far-right government led by Simion’s Aur (the second largest party in parliament) and supported by the “opportunist” PSD, even with enough MPs changing parties, to the far-right.

"That would be a recipe," she said.