Romania: the 2025 Presidential election
Following the annulment of the Romanian presidential election at the end of 2024, the election re-run of 2025 saw the election of the pro-EU candidate Nicușor Dan
Romania has been described as a semi-presidential republic with the President sharing executive power with the government led by the Prime Minister. The President takes a leading role in foreign affairs.
Most governments in Romania since 2012 have been led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) but it has clashed on several occasions with Romania’s elected presidents. Several PSD leaders have faced corruption charges and attempts in 2017 and 2018 to change the law to weaken corruption investigations were met with mass protests and international criticism.
Since 2021, a grand coalition bringing together the PSD and the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) has been in office. There has also been increased support for parties described as far right and nationalist, including the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR). Increased support for these parties has been attributed to public anger with corruption and disillusionment with the ruling parties.
Annulled presidential election, November 2024In a shock result in the first round of the presidential election on 24 November 2024, an independent candidate previously associated with the AUR, Călin Georgescu came first. Elena Lasconi, leader of the centre-right anti-corruption Save Romania Union (USR) came second and was scheduled to face Georgescu in the run-off. PSD Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu came third while AUR leader George Simion came fourth.
Georgescu had lagged well behind several other candidates in the opinion polls but had gained traction through a social media campaign in the lead-up to the election. Georgescu had taken nationalist, anti-EU and “anti-globalist” stances. Following the first round, he said he would stop all Romanian political and military support for Ukraine if elected.
On 4 December 2024, intelligence documents were declassified detailing what was described as a massive and “highly organised” campaign for Georgescu on the TikTok platform which was likely orchestrated by a “state actor”. This was implied to be Russia, though it was not directly blamed.
On 6 December 2024, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the result of the presidential election. It said the irregularities revealed by the intelligence assessment had interfered in the principle of free and fair elections. Georgescu denounced the decision as a “barbaric act” while Simion described it as a “coup d’etat”. Lasconi also criticised the decision.
Parliamentary elections, December 2024Although the vote share of both parties declined in the parliamentary elections that took place on 1 December 2024, PSD and PNL then formed another coalition government together with the main party of Romania’s Hungarian minority, the UDMR.
AUR came second to the PSD in the elections with 18% of the vote. The combined vote of AUR and two other parties viewed as further to the right was close to a third of the electorate.
Presidential election re-run in 2025In January 2025 the government announced a re-run of the presidential election would take place in May 2025. Polls in early 2025 indicated a clear lead for Georgescu in a presidential election re-run. However, Georgescu was barred from standing in the election by Romania’s election authority in March 2025, sparking angry protests and clashes between his supporters and the police. This followed Georgescu’s indictment in February on several charges, including incitement to undermine the constitutional order.
Simion stood as the main candidate of the right in the election, indicating that he could appoint Georgescu as Prime Minister if elected. Simion also stressed his opposition to Romania’s military support for Ukraine and said he would take a more assertive stance for Romania in the EU. He also aligned his party with US President Donald Trump.
Other leading candidates included Crin Antonescu of PNL, the joint candidate of the governing parties, and Nicuşor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest. USR leaders shifted their support from Lasconi to Dan, a former leading member of the USR, as the more likely candidate to defeat Simion.
Simion had a significant lead following the first round of the election on 4 May 2025, winning 41% of the vote. Dan was in second place with 21% of the vote, finishing narrowly ahead of Antonescu.
Dan elected PresidentDan was elected President in the second round on 18 May 2025, defeating Simion in the run-off. Dan won 53.6% of the vote while Simion received 46.4%. Commentaries suggested that Dan, the “pro-Western” candidate benefitted from a substantial increase in voter turnout and a rejection of Simion’s “isolationist vision for Romania”.
The election result was validated by the constitutional court on 20 May 2025, after it rejected a request from Simion to annul the election over his claims of external interference by France, Moldova and other actors. Dan was sworn in as President in a joint session of parliament on 26 May 2025.
The new President brokered the formation of a new governing coalition bringing together the pro-EU parties, PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR, approved by parliament on 23 June 2025. Under the coalition agreement, Ilie Bolojan of PNL will serve as Prime Minister for two years with the position then rotating to the PSD in 2027.