Bucharest (AFP) — Five months after the shock scrapping of presidential elections, Romanians go back to the polls on Sunday — with a key far-right contender excluded and criticism by the US administration looming over the tense vote.

Thousands in Romania have protested against the vote annulment and subsequent barring of European Union and NATO critic Calin Georgescu, who topped the first round of voting in November before it was annulled.

The moves — following claims of Russian meddling and a “massive” social media promotion of Georgescu — have also drawn the ire of senior officials in United States President Donald Trump’s administration, with Vice President JD Vance and advisor Elon Musk chastising the eastern European country.

Eleven contenders are in the 4 May re-run with the far-right expected to enter a second round on 18 May in a tight battle.

The campaign has been stirred up by “indirect pressure” fueled by US officials’ comments, Sorina Soare, a political scientist at the University of Florence, told AFP.

With the NATO member hosting more than 1,700 US troops, Romania “cannot afford to enter into confrontation with its American ally over economic and security issues,” she said.

Vance criticized the vote annulment “based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors.”

“If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with,” he said.

Tycoon Musk has also intervened repeatedly on his social network X to criticize the decisions of the Romanian authorities.

Several of the candidates have expressed their admiration for Trump or touted their ties to him.

Soare noted a “zeitgeist very influenced by Washington politics, with an almost complete migration of all candidates to traditional conservative themes.”

George Simion, leader of the far-right party AUR who is expected to win the first round, is an avowed Trump fan often wearing a cap with his idol’s name or the slogan “Make America Great Again” on it.

After the Brussels critic, 38, came fourth in the 24 November first round, he threw his support behind Georgescu, who has also said he is “ultra pro” Trump.