2025 Presidential Elections
On 18 May 2025, independent candidate and Bucharest's Mayor Nicusor Dan was elected to be the next President of Romania.
With 100 percent of ballots counted early on May 19, centrist, pro-EU, and pro-Ukraine, Nicusor Danr received more than 53.6 percent of the vote (6.17 million) in the second-round presidential election runoff, ahead of Simion at 46.4 percent (5.34 million), according to Romania's election commission.
38-year-old ultranationalist and leader of the AUR party, George Simion, initially claimed victory saying his numbers showed he'd won by some 400,000 ballots. He later conceded defeat in the early hours of May 19.
Turnout for the runoff was a record at more than 64 percent and with around 11.6 million Romanians from both inside the country and abroad voting. 2 million more electors voted in the second round than in the first round and more than in the previous November's initial vote.
Romania was set to hold presidential elections again in 2025, after the country's Constitutional Court (CCR) annulled, on 06 December 2024, the results of the first round of the presidential elections after declassified reports suggested foreign involvement aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process. The decision of the CCR came as voting in the second round had already started at polling stations in the diaspora and less than 48 hours before the start of the vote in the country. The second round would have seen ultranationalist Calin Georgescu, the surprise winner of the first round, face centrist Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Save Romania Union (USR), backed by pro-EU parties.
President Klaus Iohannis, whose mandate was due to end on December 21, will remain in office until his successor is sworn in. He convened the newly-elected Parliament on December 20. A new Government, to be validated by the Parliament, is to decide the date of the presidential elections. The president designates the PM and appoints the Government following the vote of confidence from the Parliament.
National Liberal Party (PNL) president Ilie Bolojan, who took over the party's leadership after former leader and presidential candidate Nicolae Ciuca came out fifth in the first round of the presidential elections, said he was not interested in running for president.
Nicu?or Dan, who won a second mandate as the mayor of Bucharest this spring, will run for for president as an independent in the 2025 elections, he announced on 16 December 2024. Dan said he is open to having talks with the pro-European parties to support his bid. "What we need is a president who makes sure that the reformist direction that the parties reference these days will be followed through in the governmental activity. I am convinced that the Romanian society will take advantage of this unexpected moment and find the resources to move forward and change what needs changing," Dan said.
A fundamental change is needed in the way the state responds to the needs of citizens, Dan said upon announcing his presidential bid. He pointed to three major problems, starting with corruption and how public institutions work. "Entire areas are captured by interest groups that act for the benefit of the group and not for the public interest. There will be a tough fight between those defending the public interest and those acting on their group interest," he said.
Dan's announcement concerning the presidential bid came as a coalition of NGOs proposed him as the candidate of the pro-EU parties in early December. After Georgescu's surprise win and with far-right parties gaining ground after the Parliamentary elections, held on December 1, a coalition made up of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and representatives of other ethnic minorities have started talks to form a pro-European Government and announced backing for "a possible sole presidential candidate."
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