BUCHAREST, Romania >> Hard-right nationalist George Simion is set to secure a decisive win in the first round of Romania’s presidential election redo, incomplete electoral data indicated Sunday, months after an annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, is far outpacing all other candidates in the polls with 40.1% of the vote, official electoral data shows after 90% of votes were counted.

Far behind in second place is the governing coalition’s joint candidate, Crin Antonescu, with 21.1%, and in third place Bucharest mayor, Nicusor Dan with 19.4% — but that gap is widely expected to narrow as votes from larger cities are counted.

Eleven candidates vied for the presidency and a runoff will be held on May 18 between the top two candidates. By the time polls closed, about 9.57 million people — or 53.2% of eligible voters — had cast their ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with 973,000 votes cast at polling stations set up in other countries.

Election redo held after vote annulled

The rerun was held after Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

In a prerecorded speech aired after polls closed, Simion said that despite many obstacles, Romanians “have risen up” and “we are approaching an exceptional result.”

“I am here to restore constitutional order,” he said. “I want democracy, I want normalcy, and I have a single objective: to give back to the Romanian people what was taken from them and to place at the center of decision-making the ordinary, honest, dignified people.”

As in many EU countries, antiestablishment sentiment is running high in Romania, fueled by high inflation and cost of living, a large budget deficit and a sluggish economy. Observers say the malaise has bolstered support for nationalist and far-right figures like Georgescu, who is under investigation and barred from the rerun.

Georgescu, who appeared alongside Simion at a polling station on Sunday in the capital, Bucharest, called the vote rerun “a fraud orchestrated by those who have made deceit the only state policy,” but said he was there to “acknowledge the power of democracy, the power of the vote that frightens the system, that terrifies the system.”

The presidential role carries a five-year term and significant decision-making powers in national security and foreign policy.

Widespread distrust in the authorities

Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016, ran on a pro-EU “Honest Romania” ticket.

“It is about the trust of Romanians and our partners in democracy ... and in my opinion, it is a new beginning that we all have a responsibility to do correctly,” Dan said after the polls closed.