Bavarian-speaking mountain Slavs with some Romance flourishes for good measure

Nor the Austrians tbf

I agree that Dan was a good candidate, and in that sense not the default fallback, but the primary motivating factor was the vote against Simion. Moldova is a different kettle of fish in that it is under continuous attack by hostile actors through captured parties. Not a "normal" voting environment.

I don't really agree with that. They are an established presence, especially in metropolitan areas, but they have systematically underperformed expectations, even at their high point in 2020. At best they have been kingmakers. Not nothing, but hardly dominant.

The Neos are the fourth largest party and added 1% to their vote share in 2024. They are in government but are already slumping in the polls. Not really successful, certainly not surprisingly so. Nicosur Dan's victory in Romania was also more a case of cordon sanitaire than victory of liberalism.

A.k.a. Johnson

Not even the crisis of the Tory Party

Might just swipe that

Politics by local lowest common denominator..