Romania’s nationalist leader George Simion, a follower of the US president elect Donald Trump, expects political dividends from the Republican’s win – and analysts tend to admit there might be some contagion effect on the presidential elections in Romania.

In Europe, mainstream parties have already begun to rely on far-right support to gain or maintain power in many countries, and the result of the US election is only expected to encourage this. 

Out of the sea of congratulation messages sent by all Romanian political leaders, that of Simion stands out because he has constantly supported the Republican candidate despite the harsh criticism he had to endure for this.

Upon the outcome of the presidential elections in the US, Simion, who is running for the presidency in Romania, sent a message in which he states that Trump winning the elections in the US stands for "a victory for the patriots, in front of the globalists". 

"It's a victory for the patriots over the globalists. I expect all this neo-marxist, woke, transhumanist ideology to stop there and be left alone. We have … elections in Romania. We can also [win] in Romania,” said the leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in a Facebook post,

In February of this year, Simion spent three days in the US at the conservative CPAC conference, where he appeared alongside Steven Bannon, Trump's former campaign chief.

Trump’s win in the US is likely to give a boost to the nationalist parties in Romania such as Simion’s AUR, Europa Libera argues.

Europa Libera's columnist Andrea Pora said that Simion hopes that the Republican candidate’s victory will help him electorally in the presidential and parliamentary elections. 

“He hopes that his position as a possible contender in the second round of the election will strengthen, as several opinion polls show,” she wrote.

Political analyst Cristian Parvulescu, quoted by Europa Libera, admitted that the US election might have an impact on Simion’s odds in the presidential election in Romania.

“Trump's victory will help Simion to the extent that he gains more coherence and support from the groups of this electorate and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) groups in Romania. It's important for the second round, and this will also have an impact on the parliamentary elections," said Parvulescu.