Hard-right candidate Simion secures decisive win in first round of
Romania’s presidential redo
[May 05, 2025]
By STEPHEN McGRATH
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Hard-right nationalist George Simion secured a
decisive win Sunday in the first round of Romania’s presidential
election redo, nearly complete electoral data showed. The election took
place months after an annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO
member country into its worst political crisis in decades.
Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of
Romanians, or AUR, was far outpacing all other candidates in the polls
with 40.5% of the vote, official electoral data shows, after 99% of
votes were counted from Sunday's vote.
Far behind in second place was Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan with 20.89%,
and in third place the governing coalition’s joint candidate, Crin
Antonescu, with 20.34%. He conceded defeat after midnight, saying he
believes it's an “irreversible result.”
Eleven candidates vied for the presidency and a runoff will be held on
May 18 between the top two candidates. By the time polls closed, about
9.57 million people — or 53.2% of eligible voters — had cast their
ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with 973,000 votes
cast at polling stations set up in other countries.
Election redo held after vote annulled
The rerun was held after Romania’s political landscape was shaken last
year when a top court voided the previous election in which the
far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following
allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which
Moscow has denied.
In a prerecorded speech aired after polls closed, Simion said that
despite many obstacles, Romanians “have risen up” and “we are
approaching an exceptional result.”
“I am here to restore constitutional order,” said Simion, who came
fourth in last year’s race and later backed Georgescu. “I want
democracy, I want normalcy, and I have a single objective: to give back
to the Romanian people what was taken from them and to place at the
center of decision-making the ordinary, honest, dignified people.”
As in many EU countries, antiestablishment sentiment is running high in
Romania, fueled by high inflation and cost of living, a large budget
deficit and a sluggish economy. Observers say the malaise has bolstered
support for nationalist and far-right figures like Georgescu, who is
under investigation and barred from the rerun.
Georgescu, who appeared alongside Simion at a polling station on Sunday
in the capital, Bucharest, called the vote rerun “a fraud orchestrated
by those who have made deceit the only state policy,” but said he was
there to “acknowledge the power of democracy, the power of the vote that
frightens the system, that terrifies the system.”
The presidential role carries a five-year term and significant
decision-making powers in national security and foreign policy.
Widespread distrust in the authorities
Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who
founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016, ran on a pro-EU
“Honest Romania” ticket.
“It is about the trust of Romanians and our partners in democracy ...
and in my opinion, it is a new beginning that we all have a
responsibility to do correctly,” Dan said after the polls closed.
Antonescu, 65, a veteran centrist who campaigned on retaining Romania’s
pro-Western orientation, said Sunday that he voted for “a united
Romania, for a strong Romania, for a dignified Romania.”
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Presidential candidate George Simion exits a voting cabin before
casting his vote in the first round of the presidential election
redo in Mogosoaia, Romania, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim
Ghirda)
“Democracy means a battle, sometimes taken to the maximum, but it is
a battle of ideas,” he said after voting had closed. “Let’s not
forget that we are fellow citizens, sons of the same country, and we
must move forward together.”
Victor Ponta, who was prime minister from 2012-2015, also pushed a
MAGA-style “Romania First” campaign and boasted of having close ties
to the Trump administration, stands in fourth place with 14.3% of
the vote.
Elena Lasconi, who came second in last year’s first round ballot and
participated in the rerun, only obtained about 2.6% of the vote. She
positioned herself as a staunchly pro-Western, anti-system
candidate, railing against what she described as a corrupt political
class.
Cristian Andrei, a Bucharest-based political consultant, said
Simion's clear victory indicates a complete “reshape” of the
political spectrum, and that if Dan reaches the runoff, “it will be
a clear signal that the political class and the political
establishment have lost.”
“You have a populist or pro-sovereign movement ... and you also have
this liberal, urban, pro-Western segment of Romania that wants
change,” he said, adding that it would be a “huge rejection of the
classic political parties ... and this will mean that the entire
political spectrum will be reshaped."
Crossroads moment for Romania
Distrust in the authorities remains widespread, especially for those
who voted for Georgescu, a sizable electorate that Simion has sought
to tap into.
“The antiestablishment sentiment is not like an anarchic movement,
but is against the people who destroyed this country,” Simion told
The Associated Press days before the rerun. “We are not a democratic
state anymore.”
Simion said that his hard-right nationalist Alliance for the Unity
of Romanians party is “perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement,”
capitalizing on a growing wave of populism in Europe after U.S.
President Donald Trump’s political comeback. AUR rose to prominence
in a 2020 parliamentary election, proclaims to stand for “family,
nation, faith, and freedom,” and has since doubled its support.
Rares Ghiorghies, 36, who works in the energy sector and voted for
Simion, says he hopes that if he secures the presidency, Romania can
“return to the basic principles of democracy, regain our
confidence.”
“What happened in December 2024 is definitely a dark chapter in the
history of this country, and we can no longer accept it,” he said.
“I’m hoping things will get back to normal.”
The election redo is a crossroads moment for Romania as it seeks to
restore its democracy and retain its geopolitical alliances, which
have become strained since the canceled election fiasco.
The decision to annul the election and the ban on Georgescu’s
candidacy drew criticism from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Elon
Musk and Russia, which publicly supported his candidacy in the
rerun.
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