Moderates win weekend elections in Romania, Poland, Portugal

Moderates won elections across Europe over the weekend, though anti-immigrant blocs showcased their growing strength.

In Romania’s presidential election, the centrist mayor of Bucharest — who “ran a campaign that was pro-Europe, pro-NATO, and pro-Ukraine” — triumphed over a nativist firebrand who had been leading the polls, while the center-right narrowly took the first round of Poland’s presidential vote and emerged victorious in Portugal.

“Europhiles can exhale today,” Politico wrote, although the ballot box successes risk masking the power of Europe’s populist movements: Romania’s centrists needed near-record turnout to win, Poland’s second round will be a neck-and-neck affair, and Portugal’s far right saw its best-ever result.