I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to win. Definitely not counting our chickens yet. But many people in Romania vote for familiar names, for the big parties. He’s an independent and most people have never heard of him. In your case, that was the incumbent. It’s a big difference.

He somehow managed to get 2.1 million votes. That’s huge and a major surprise as everyone is saying. But it’s another thing to get 4-5 million votes. Yes, he’ll get more votes in the second round, but in order to win, he’ll need to more than double his votes. (He got 2.1 million out of almost 9.5 million votes) Which is unlikely. Not impossible, no. There’s still a chance that people will be dumb. But it’s unlikely.

It’s sad, yes. But, he doesn’t have nearly enough votes to win in the second round. Especially since the votes were super split among a bunch of guys. Most people will just vote for his opposition, Lasconi and Romania will have the first female president. Who is also only the 2nd or 3rd worst option, which is better than I expected. All in all, feels like a win to me.