Romania's populist far-right politician George Simion is making his bid for the country's presidential election rerun in May as he seeks to rally nationalist voters after a controversial frontrunner was barred from the race last year.

Former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta joined the race for May's presidential election re-run on Wednesday as the hard right worked to ensure they had a candidate in the contest after the ban on pro-Russian Calin Georgescu threw the vote wide open.

Protests erupted in downtown Bucharest following the Central Electoral Bureau's decision to ban Russian-backed far-right politician Calin Georgescu from running in the upcoming re-run presidential elections.

Romanian far-right populist Calin Georgescu has appealed the decision to bar him from running in the country's presidential election rerun.

Chaos broke out in Romania’s capital as supporters of the far-right populist Calin Georgescu protested the electoral body’s decision to reject his candidacy in a presidential election redo

Romania’s central election authority barred far-right candidate Calin Georgescu from competing in May’s presidential election re-run, not the European Union, contrary to misleading posts online.

By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest The leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, will replace Calin Georgescu as the leading far-right candidate in the May presidential elections,