Centrist leaders took the lead in Portugal, Romania, and Poland’s election races this weekend.
Portugal’s presidential race saw the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) win the country’s third snap election in three years, but fall short of a majority, with the far-right Chega party potential to take a record 20% of the votes.
With more than 99% of the vote counted, the AD led by prime minister, Luís Montenegro had won 32.1% of the vote and 86 seats in Portugal's 230-seat assembly, just shy of the 116 needed for a majority.
The Socialist and Chega Party won 23.4% and 22.6% of the vote respectively and 58 seats each.
In Romania, centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan is set to win the presidential election with 99% of the votes counted. Official figures show the pro-EU independent eight points ahead of his far-right rival George Simion.
Latest figures show Dan on 54.2% of the vote and self-professed Trump admirer, Simion on 45.8%.
Simion has disputed the polls, but it is unclear what steps he could take to contest the outcome.
“We are the clear winners of these elections. We claim victory in the name of the Romanian people,” Simion said.
Meanwhile, centrist leader Rafał Trzaskowski and historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the populist right, have secured 30% of the vote each in a tight electoral race in Poland.
An exit poll that closed Sunday suggests that Trzaskowski is narrowly ahead, with 30.8% of the vote in the first round, compared to Nawrocki’s 29.1%.
