The surprise far-right winner of the first round of Romania's presidential election has denied he wants to leave NATO and the European Union, appearing to roll back some of his positions amid protests over his victory.

A politician who praised notorious Romanian antisemites and Nazi collaborators has won the first round of his country’s presidential election. Calin Georgescu ran independently after leaving Romania’s far-right party,

In Romania, the far-right nationalist Călin Georgescu shocked pollsters as he gathered the highest number of votes — around 23% — in the country’s presidential election, knocking Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu out of the race.

Elena Lasconi, one of the two candidates in the Romanian presidential election, called for support for her candidacy to prevent Romania from returning to Russian influence. Source: Elena Lasconi in her first public speech after the first round of elections,

A member of Romania's coalition government threw its weight behind the centrist candidate in a presidential election run-off late on Monday, as the NATO member braces for a ballot that may propel an anti-NATO candidate to its highest office.

A hard-right critic of NATO who has praised Russia is set to face a centre-right opposition leader in a presidential election run-off in Romania that could undermine its pro-Western stance after a shock outcome in the first-round vote.

Romania’s political landscape is reeling after a little-known, far-right populist secured the first round in the presidential election.