BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanians voted Sunday in a critical presidential election rerun after last year’s annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

The official vote count began when polls closed there at 9 p.m., after which results will be gradually published by electoral authorities.

Eleven candidates vied for the presidency and a May 18 runoff is expected. 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.

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

As in many EU countries, anti-establishment sentiment is running high in Romania, fueled by inflation and a high 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 this rerun.

While data from local surveys should be taken with caution, a median of polls suggests that hard-right nationalist George Simion will enter the runoff, likely pitting him against Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan or the governing coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu.

Appearing Sunday morning with Georgescu at a polling station in the capital, Bucharest, Simion said: “We are here with one mission only: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy.”

Georgescu 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.”

Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016, is running on a pro-EU “Honest Romania” ticket. After casting his ballot, he said he voted “for hope and a new beginning” for Romania. “I voted with realism, because Romania is going through a difficult time.”

Antonescu, 65, a veteran centrist who campaigned on retaining Romania’s pro-Western orientation, said Sunday that he voted for “a united Romania, for a strong Romania, for a dignified Romania.”

Victor Ponta, who was prime minister from 2012 to 2015, has also pushed a MAGA-style “Romania First” campaign and boasts of having close ties to the Trump administration.

Another hopeful, Elena Lasconi, came second in last year’s first-round ballot and is participating in the rerun. She has positioned herself as a staunchly pro-Western, anti-system candidate, railing against what she describes as a corrupt political class.

Simion said his hard-right nationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party is “perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement,” capitalizing on a growing wave of populism in Europe after U.S. President Donald Trump’s political comeback. AUR rose to prominence in a 2020 parliamentary election, proclaims to stand for “family, nation, faith and freedom,” and has since doubled its support.

The election redo is a crossroads moment for Romania as it seeks to restore its democracy and retain its geopolitical alliances, which have become strained since the canceled election.

The decision to annul the election and the ban on Georgescu’s candidacy drew criticism from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Russia, which publicly supported his candidacy in the rerun.

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