Romanians vote massively for change as Bucharest's reformist mayor joins nationalist frontrunner in second round of presidential elections

George Simion, the leader of the nationalist party AUR (Alliance for Romanians’ Union) and the sole candidate of the sovereign movement in Romania, won the first round of the presidential elections with a score of over 40%.

Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, who ran as an independent but with informal support from the reformist parties in Romania, will join him in the second round, after taking almost 21% of the votes. He narrowly surpassed Crin Antonescu, who benefited from the massive support of the three ruling parties in Romania – Social Democrats (PSD), Liberals (PNL), and Hungarians (UDMR). Antonescu, a former leader of the Liberals, who returned to the political scene after a 10-year break, took 20.5% of the votes.

This is a massive blow for the ruling coalition, which saw its candidate take an early lead versus Nicusor Dan as the first votes in the country were counted, only to have that lead evaporate as the results from the big cities and then from the Diaspora came in.

Antonescu’s early exit from the presidential race was largely due to his former political partner Victor Ponta, a former prime minister and PSD leader, who ran as an independent and took over 13% of the votes, mainly from supporters of his former party. Ponta, who was ousted from PSD, adopted a more nationalist rhetoric.

Elena Lasconi, the leader of Save Romania Union (USR) and the surprise second-place finisher in the annulled presidential elections from November 2024, got under 3% of the votes. Most of her voters moved to support Nicusor Dan.

As such, with over 98% of the polls centralized, the results show that more than 60% of the Romanian voters opted for change or against the political establishment, mirroring the outcome of the annulled elections in November 2024.

This result sets the stage for a decisive battle between two candidates who promised change for Romania but who have radically different ideas about what this change should look like.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos)