Presidential election in Romania: Who reached second round
The presidential candidate of Romania, Nicușor Dan, will face George Simion in the second round (Photo: facebook.com/NicusorDan.ro)
In Romania's presidential election, the best result is being achieved by the far-right candidate, George Simion. The second place is held by the former mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor-Daniel Dan, who is also advancing to the second round, according to data from Romania's Central Electoral Bureau.
In Romania, 99.90% of the ballots have already been processed following the presidential election results.
The result for the far-right candidate from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), Simion, is twice the number of votes cast for both independent candidate Dan and Antonescu from the National Liberal Party (PSD-PNL-UDMR).
However, Dan received slightly higher results than the former acting president, Antonescu.
Overall, the vote tally results are as follows:
- George Simion – 40.94%
- Nicușor Dan – 20.99%
- Crin Antonescu – 20.09%
- Victor Ponta – 13.06%
- Elena Lasconi – 2.68%
Since none of the candidates were able to secure more than 50% of the vote, a second round of voting will take place. The second round is scheduled for two weeks from now, on May 18.
In this round, the far-right politician Simion will face off against the former mayor of the capital, Dan, who has earned a reputation as a successful anti-corruption fighter.
Additionally, Antonescu has already conceded defeat in the first round of the presidential election.
"The votes have spoken, the citizens have spoken. I apologize. I leave this attempt, I think, with my head held high, at least that's how I feel. I presented a program, I presented some solutions, some ideas, character, but the verdict of the Romanians was different," the politician is quoted as saying by the Romanian publication Digi24.
Meanwhile, Antonescu did not give any recommendations to his supporters on who to vote for in the second round.
Presidential election of Romania
It should be noted that this election mark the second attempt in a few months to elect a president in Romania. The reason is that the results of the previous vote, which took place on November 24, 2024, where the far-right pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu unexpectedly came in first, were annulled by a decision of the country’s Constitutional Court, based on a report from the intelligence services.
According to the Romanian intelligence services, violations were recorded during Georgescu’s campaign, including illegal advertising and manipulation on TikTok to artificially increase his popularity, as well as indicating Russian hybrid attacks.
As previously reported, in late February, Georgescu was arrested and removed from the second first round of the election.
Additionally, on May 4, far-right politician George Simion stated that he would offer Georgescu a leadership position if he won the presidential election.
For more details about the presidential election in Romania and what is known about the candidates, read the article by RBC-Ukraine.
