Why many Romanians in Spain support their country's far-right candidate
Romania's far-right presidential candidate George Simion has found strong support in a faraway place as he heads for a tense run-off election Sunday: Coslada, a dormitory town outside Madrid with a large Romanian community.
The Spanish town of 80,000 people -- more than 20 percent of them Romanian -- shows the backing Simion has gotten from compatriots abroad, who are poised to help the 38-year-old win against his pro-European rival, Nicusor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest.
At a cafe terrace near Coslada's so-called "Romanians' Square" -- once a meeting place for day labourers looking to be hired by contractors -- several immigrants from the Eastern European country said they had voted for Simion in the first round on May 4.
Simion, a fan of US President Donald Trump and head of the nationalist AUR party, stormed to first place in that vote with his anti-establishment message, taking 40.9 percent.
His margin of victory among the diaspora was even wider: he scored the backing of more than 60 percent of Romanians abroad.
In Spain, he won 74 percent of the vote.
"I want change. And so does everyone back home," said Mioara Mohora as she wrapped salami slices for a customer at the "Economic Market Discount" mini-mart, which was stacked with Romanian products such as pickled vegetables and beer.
Mohora, who is in her 40s and has lived in Spain for eight years, said she decided to cast her absentee ballot for Simion after Romania's constitutional court cancelled the country's initial presidential election last year over claims of Russian interference.
The decision, which came after dark-horse far-right candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly topped the first round in November, sparked sometimes violent demonstrations.
Georgescu has been barred from running again.
"It was a protest vote," Mohora said of her backing for Simion.
"They took away our right to vote for the person we actually wanted."
As she weighed minced meat at a nearby Romanian butcher shop, Mihaela Ionescu (pictured above), 48, said Romanian authorities had "overturned the people's will" with the cancellation of the elections.
Ionescu, who has lived in Spain for two decades, said she did not vote last year or earlier this month, and has no plans to cast a ballot this weekend.
"Romanians are desperate. They are looking for a hero," she said when asked about Simion.
Romania's economy has rallied significantly since the collapse of communism in 1989, but the nation of around 19 million people still grapples with widespread corruption and lower living standards compared to wealthier western and northern European countries.
This has led many Romanians to move abroad. Some 600,000 of them live in Spain, making them one of the largest foreign communities in the country.
Coslada is home to around 17,500 Romanians. Local buses advertise flights to Bucharest, and many shop signs feature both Spanish and Romanian.
'Always disappointed'
The Romanian diaspora is broadly split into two groups, according to the president of the Federation of Romanian Associations in Europe, Daniel Tecu.
"There are those who want to remain anchored in the European Union, who have witnessed Romania's development within the EU and want nothing more to do with Russia," he said.
Simion won votes mainly from the other group: people who are disappointed with the current political class and are "tired of corruption, angry, who don't return to Romania because it's not the country they want", he added.
Florin Padurariu, the owner of Botosani, a Romanian restaurant facing Coslada's train station -- which Simion visited during a tour of Europe ahead of the election -- said "the diaspora used to vote for pro-Europeans, but that's over now".
"I have always voted, but I have always been disappointed," added Padurariu, 55, who said he remained pro-EU and voted for Dan in the first round.
"After 20 years here, you still haven't learned anything? Europe allows you to support your mother, your father and your children, thanks to the money you earn here," he said.
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