Romania tells US Congress group its presidential vote will be fair, transparent

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania is committed to ensuring its May presidential vote re-run is fair and transparent, after its election result in December was cancelled, interim President Ilie Bolojan told a U.S. Congress delegation on Wednesday.

The European Union and NATO member will repeat its two-round election on May 4 and 18 after the Constitutional Court voided the initial ballot following accusations of Russian meddling - denied by Moscow - in favour of far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu, who has since been banned from running again.

The cancellation put Romania at the centre of a dispute between Europe and U.S. President Donald Trump's incoming administration over free speech and suppressing political opponents.

"As regards the 2024 election process, the interim president said Romania has learned the necessary lessons and that state institutions are committed to ensuring a fair, transparent election in full agreement with democratic standards," the Romanian presidency said in a statement.

Bolojan met a bipartisan delegation of eight U.S. members of Congress, the first U.S. officials to visit Romania since the election was voided.

Bolojan also underlined the importance of consolidating American troops in Romania and the Black Sea at a time when the Pentagon is considering withdrawing troops from Europe.

"We have a lot of companies that come here, create good jobs, we want more good-paying jobs here and more companies, so that's why we're here," Florida Republican Representative Vern Buchanan told reporters after meeting with Romanian lawmakers.

"This country is important to us and we want to work together, we've got a lot of things we're going to work on, but it's been a very positive meeting."

Romanian hard-right opposition leader George Simion, who replaced Georgescu, is the favourite ahead of the election's first round, a survey conducted by polling institute AtlasIntel and commissioned by news website www.hotnews.ro showed on Wednesday.

The poll, which surveyed 2,994 people from April 10 to 13, showed Simion leading with 33.4% of votes, followed by the pro-European ruling coalition's candidate Crin Antonescu with 24.7% and independent centrist and Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan with 21.2%.

The government has tightened campaign rules, publishing campaign funding data, requiring ads to identify sponsors, and social media platforms to quickly remove content at its request.

But election authorities were also doubling down on social media posts made by non-political individuals, prompting NGOs to warn of freedom of speech infringements.

In Romania the president chairs a council that decides on military aid and defence spending and also has the power to veto EU votes that require unanimity among the bloc's 27 member states.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)