
With queues snaking around the block, these are the dramatic scenes as thousands of Romanians line up to vote on British streets.

Crowds thronged around polling stations in Portsmouth and London yesterday, waiting for hours to have their say in their country’s presidential election.

The pictures provide a clear snapshot of the scale of Romanian migration to the UK.

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Thousands of Romanian immigrants queued around the block in Fratton, Portsmouth, so they could vote in their country's presidential election

Holding the flag: They waited for hours to cast their vote in a run-off pitting the social democrat prime minister against a centre-right candidate

Making their voice heard: Gabriela Roman (left), 23, and Andreea Monica (right), 25, were among those casting their vote in Portsmouth

Huge interest: One onlooker in the Fratton area of Portsmouth said they 'couldn't believe so many Romanians had turned out to vote'

Onlooker Tracey Crawford, from Portsmouth, said: ‘There has been absolute pandemonium. People have parked where they liked and it’s been chaos.’

George Small, 60, added: ‘This was diabolical. I was livid to see such a commotion. You could see cars parked on double yellow lines, in disabled bays and parking without a permit for more than two hours.’

More than 189,000 Romanians and Bulgarians live in Britain, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics – up 42,000 since the start of the year.

It means forecasts that 50,000 people a year from the two countries would seek work in the UK following the controversial lifting of employment restrictions look likely to prove correct.

A report by the campaign group MigrationWatch UK predicted in April that net migration from inside Europe will hit 130,000 a year if present trends continue. This is the equivalent of adding a city as big as Manchester to the UK’s population every four years.

Tens of thousands of Romanians living overseas hope it will be easier for them to cast ballots than it was during the election on November 2

Busy: An official at the polling station in Portsmouth said they were expecting as many as 10,000 people to vote throughout the day

Queues in Portsmouth: Election results are expected later today, and the winner will replace President Traian Basescu, who is stepping down

Elsewhere in Britain: Romanians wait in line to enter a polling station at the Romanian Embassy in London yesterday

A policeman intervenes between two Romanians arguing as they wait in line to enter a polling station at the Romanian Embassy in London

A Romanian living abroad casts his ballot during the presidential election run-off at a polling station inside the Romanian Embassy in London

Romanians living abroad had hoped they would find it easier to cast their ballots yesterday than during the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago.

Then, thousands were prevented from voting because of long queues and early closing times at their embassies, some of which ran out of critical forms.

They clearly take politics in their own country very seriously, even though they now live nearly 2,000 miles away Onlooker

Police were called to London’s Romanian Embassy during the previous vote amid fears of public disorder as hundreds were shut out despite queuing for hours to cast their ballot.

Yesterday, an official at the Portsmouth polling station said as many as 10,000 people were expected to vote during the day. The long queues provide a contrast to elections in the UK where the turnout is often embarrassingly low.

An onlooker at the polling station in Portsmouth said: ‘I couldn’t believe so many Romanians had turned out to vote.

‘They clearly take politics in their own country very seriously, even though they now live nearly 2,000 miles away.’

Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock said: ‘The Romanian Embassy contacted me to ask if the voting could be held in Portsmouth because it’s a central space for Romanians around the area.

‘The first round was held two weeks ago and it was okay. There were queues but nothing this dramatic.’

The election is being contested by prime minister Victor Ponta and the mayor of the city of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis.

Living abroad: Romanians wait in line to enter a polling station at the Romanian Embassy in Paris yesterday

Romanians queue at a polling station at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin. One of the candidates is Klaus Iohannis, an ethnic German mayor

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta (second right), also the leader of the ruling Social Democrat Party, and his wife Daciana (left) with their children, Irina (second left) and Andrei (right), cast their ballot during the presidential elections run-off at a polling station in Bucharest

Opposition presidential candidate Klaus Iohannis (centre right) and his wife (centre left) arrive at a polling station in Sibiu, Romania, yesterday