Nicușor Dan to become Romania's new president: pro-European candidate wins
Photo: Nicușor Dan, mayor of Bucharest (Getty Images)
On Sunday, Romania held the second round of its presidential election. Bucharest’s mayor and pro-European politician Nicușor Dan is set to become the country’s new head of state, according to the official website of Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau.
The main contenders for the presidency were the pro-Russian far-right candidate George Simion and Bucharest’s mayor, Nicușor Dan.
After counting 99.02% of the protocols, Dan is preliminarily receiving 54.03% of the vote, while his competitor has 45.27%.
As of now, the number of remaining votes is smaller than the gap between the candidates. According to HotNews, Dan is leading by 898,000 votes, while only 850,000 votes remain to be counted. This means that the mayor of Bucharest is the clear winner of the election race.
After the polls closed at 9:00 PM, the overall voter turnout was 64.72%. This is 11% higher than in the first round. In total, 9.99 million voters inside Romania cast their ballots in the second round, and another 1.64 million voted abroad (diaspora).
The situation was different in the first round. Then Simion received 40.96% of the votes, while Dan got 20.99%. The far-right candidate’s strong result was largely due to the diaspora, which gave him over 60% of its votes, compared to 25% for Dan.
Updated at 4:30 AM Kyiv time
After 100% of ballots were counted, Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan officially won the Romanian presidential election with 53.60% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian candidate Simion received 46.40% of the votes.
First congratulations for Dan
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, congratulated Nicușor Dan on his election victory, saying that together they would strengthen the strong bridges between the two banks of the Prut River and defend the European path, peace, and democracy.
The Romanian politician was also congratulated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He expressed that Romania will be a reliable partner for Ukraine.
"For Ukraine - as a neighbour and friend - it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner. And we are confident we will," the president stated.
"By working together, we can strengthen both our countries and our Europe. We will always have great respect for Romania and its people, especially given the support we received during the most difficult period in our history. Dear Romanians, you can count on Ukraine as a good neighbor and partner. We can overcome any challenge if we are united and strong," Zelenskyy wrote.
The president added that he looks forward to the further development of the strategic partnership between "our friendly nations for the sake of their stability, security, and prosperity."
Tense election race
After the polls closed, Simion declared himself the new president of Romania. However, exit polls showed the opposite, reflecting the current results.
