The result is a dramatic turnaround from the first round of voting a few weeks ago when Mr Simion was well ahead.

Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian election.

Mr Simion, 38, and his rival - a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest - faced off in the second round of the contest.

According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.

They aren’t enough votes remaining for Mr Simion to make a comeback.