Romanian mayor wins landslide re-election two weeks after death

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The mayor of a Romanian village was re-elected by a landslide despite a major setback in his campaign -- he died about two weeks before the election.

Deveselu Mayor Ion Aliman, a Social Democrat, was re-elected to a third term with 64% of the vote in Sunday's election, which came days after Aliman died of complications from COVID-19 on Sept. 17.

A video posted online showed dozens of Aliman's local supporters holding a candle light vigil at Aliman's grave after voting ended.

Elections officials said Aliman's name had already been printed on the ballots and it was too late to correct then before the start of voting. They said the town will hold a special election to choose a new mayor, with Aliman's deputy serving as interim mayor in the meantime.