Bucharest

The British-American national was recorded driving at nearly four times the speed limit in a village about 184km from the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

"Nothing has been done for us, the working people, and I'm fed up," Liliana told me this week from behind a Bucharest market stall piled with apples.

The mathematician waited until after midnight on Sunday before he could be absolutely sure that the numbers were on his side and he could join his supporters in a park opposite City Hall in Bucharest.

A couple of hours' drive south-west from Bucharest, entry to the region is announced in blue letters on a rusty metal arch over the main road.

"Forget about any more help to Ukraine if Simion becomes president," says George Scutaru, a security expert at the New Strategy Center in Bucharest.