Coalition candidate raises largest amount of money for presidential elections in Romania

Crin Antonescu, the candidate backed by the ruling coalition in Romania, raised RON 20 million (EUR 4 million) for the ongoing presidential campaign, according to data published by the Permanent Electoral Authority on Friday, April 11.

Of the RON 20 million, the Social Democratic Party raised RON 15 million for Antonescu’s campaign, followed by UDMR, with RON 2.4 million. The National Liberal Party, which Antonescu led in the past, raised only RON 2 million from contributions and donations from its members.

While the Social Democratic Party does not reveal the sources of the funds, NGO Expert Forum notes that much of it comes from private funds, and not party subsidies.

Meanwhile, George Simion, the leader of far-right party AUR, gathered RON 5 million in loans from individuals and legal entities.

Among the independent candidates, Victor Ponta claims he managed to raise RON 10 million from loans, while Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan declared loans of RON 3 million from loans given by individuals.

Silviu Predoiu, former head of the Romanian foreign intelligence service, declared funds of RON 80,000, while John-Ion Banu-Muscel said he is using personal funds. Lavinia Șandru and Daniel Funeriu declared, so far, RON 50,000 from their own income.

According to the independent analysis, several parties, like AUR and the coalition parties, have not contributed money from subsidies in this campaign. “As we observed in last year’s elections, political parties tend to report more and more contributions from their own income in order to receive the funds back through reimbursement and keep the subsidies for other expenses,” emphasizes Expert Forum.

At the same time, the contributions of independent candidates in the first week of the campaign total RON 13.8 million, RON 10 million more than in the first week of the 2024 campaign.

(Photo: Nicusor Dan, George Simion, Victor Ponta, Crin Antonescu on Facebook)