Sawt Falasteen - 'We want change': Romanian far-right leader eyes presidential run-off

The vote could see the 38-year-old make it to the second round.

That would be a first for the far-right in the poor eastern European country in more than two decades, at a time when far-right parties across Europe have been raking in electoral successes.

"We want to see a change. We've had enough," Nicolae Grosu, 62, told AFP as he plodged in wellington boots through the mud in his yard in Pechea, a village in eastern Romania.

Since floods devastated the region in September -- the third time in recent years, Grosu has partially repaired his home with help of volunteers from Simion's far-right party, AUR.

In the presidential race, Simion is the main rival of current social-democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, opinion polls show.

And Grosu is set on voting AUR "without a doubt".

"They took out mud, gave us a bed," Grosu said.

He added that the government also gave him some money but is now asking for invoices to see how he spent it.

- 'Big impact' -

Wanting a "more patriotic Romania", Simion hopes to get a boost from Trump's victory in the US presidential election earlier this month.

He says he admires Trump and the United States because "they know to respect their flag... how to be proud of being an American".

Current polls place Simion in second place, behind Ciolacu, 56.

The frontrunner is credited with around 25 percent in the race to replace incumbent liberal Klaus Iohannis, 65, who has held the largely ceremonial post since 2014.

Posters showing Simion -- who opposes sending military aid to help Ukraine counter Russia's invasion and often rages against Brussels -- have been put up throughout Pechea, which he has frequently visited since the floods.

In the aftermath, he arrived with 10 trucks loaded with construction materials and -- he says -- around 300 volunteers from his party ready to roll up their sleeves and help the displaced rebuild their homes.

The AUR then bought up some land in Pechea with donations from supporters and party volunteers started building eight houses on it for people in need.

The homes, which are almost ready, have the faces of historic rulers adorning their facades.

In a country with the highest inflation in the European Union, where people outside big cities have poorly paid jobs and crumbling hospitals, the populist hands-on message resonates with the public and rides on a wave of general anger, sociologist Barbu Mateescu told AFP.

"Obviously it's all marketing. It's all stage management. But it had a very big impact," he said.

In recent years, around 30 percent of the population have embraced far-right views, even if they haven't always voted for them in elections.

Now the AUR is gaining in strength because Simion is managing to lure voters away from other parties, said political analyst Cristian Pirvulescu.

- 'Thieves' -

The AUR achieved a breakthrough four years ago, making it into parliament for the first time with almost 10 percent of the vote.

The party is predicted to at least double that score in the parliamentary elections a week after the first round of the presidential ballot.

In Pechea -- where some residents left homeless by the flooding still live in containers placed in their yards by authorities -- not everyone is convinced.

Grosu's 66-year-old neighbour, Paraschiv Bratu, said Simion tricked him, promising help that never came.

"He helped many people but not me. Not at all," Bratu said.

He said would vote for the social democrats. They were thieves, he said, but the AUR was no better.

In contrast to Bratu, 39-year-old mother-of-three Andra Untaru said she trusted Simion's promises.

Talking as she visited a new AUR house to which she was due to move, she said she believed the far-right party would fight for higher salaries and child allowance, and measures that would bring Romanians living abroad, like her mum and sister, back home.

"We wish him success," she said of Simion. "May God grant that he becomes our president."

L.AbuAli--SF-PST