Cast (the vote) away: Why Romanian emigrants support the radical right in home elections

The recent appeal of the radical right among Romanian emigrants goes against previous findings suggesting that emigrants are generally less inclined to vote for such political candidates. To understand why some emigrants support the radical right, this study focuses on the institutional characteristics of countries of residence. We use an original dataset of the aggregate voting patterns of Romanian emigrants in 44 countries around the world where at least 100 people voted. We focus on the four most recent elections in which the radical right gained prominence: the 2020 and 2024 national legislative elections, and the 2024 and 2025 presidential elections. The results show that the highest support comes from countries with high levels of democracy, those with large communities of Romanian emigrants, and those which are relatively close to Romania. Other variables, such as the presence of the radical right in the politics of the countries of residence or economic indicators, have no effect.