George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), conceded defeat on Sunday night and congratulated Bucharest mayor and pro-EU independent candidate Nicușor Dan for winning the presidential election.

Centrist candidate Nicușor Dan has been elected President of Romania after defeating conservative rival George Simion in the second round of voting held on May 18. Dan, currently the mayor

The outcome has been a defeat for Viktor Orban as ethnic Hungarians overwhelmingly supported the pro-European candidate, independent media wrote on May 19, citing a political analyst and a former leader of UMDR (RMDSZ),

Far-right candidate George Simion was defeated in Romania's election by the pro-EU Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.

If Bucharest does lurch over to the saboteur camp, it would be a bitter blow as Romania carries greater geostrategic heft than Hungary or Slovakia. The Black Sea nation of 19 million has, until now, been a rock-solid stalwart of the EU and the NATO alliance.

Pro-European centrist Nicușor Dan will be the next president after a divisive vote that one former president described as a choice between “continued integration with the West and a slide toward a more authoritarian model”.

Romania is holding the second round of its presidential election. Voters are choosing between hard-right Eurosceptic George Simion and liberal Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan. We're expecting polling stations to close in all three nations over the next couple of hours. We'll bring you the results right here as we get them.

By Luiza Ilie BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romanians vote on Sunday in a presidential election run-off that pits a hard-right eurosceptic against a centrist independent, and where the outcome could have implications for both the country's struggling economy and EU unity.