Explainer
Romania
presidential elections: why is there another vote this year?
Country is
going to the polls for a second year running after after the original result
was annulled
Jon Henley
Europe correspondent
Wed 30 Apr
2025 05.00 BST
Romania
returns to the polls in May for a rerun of its crunch presidential election
after the original vote last year was annulled – and its shock far-right winner
disbarred – amid widespread concerns over Russian interference and other
irregularities.
With another
far-right candidate ahead in the polls, the vote is being watched from Brussels
to Washington: a nationalist victory could result in the EU and Nato member,
which borders Ukraine, veering from a pro-European path. The Trump
administration, meanwhile, has accused Bucharest of overturning democracy.
Why is the
vote being rerun?
The first
round of Romania’s presidential election last November was won by Călin
Georgescu, a far-right, anti-EU, Moscow-friendly independent who surged from
less than 5% days before the vote to 23%, finishing well ahead of both pre-vote
frontrunners.
Declassified
intelligence documents revealed the hallmarks of a possible Russian influence
operation, identifying 85,000-plus cyber-attacks on the election computer
system and 25,000 previously dormant TikTok accounts that had amplified
Georgescu’s messages.
The files
suggested social media influencers had been hired by intermediaries and paid to
share videos promoting Georgescu, who declared zero campaign spending, and that
some of his campaign workers were linked to organised crime gangs and
neofascist groups.
The election
was annulled a fortnight later and in February the former soil scientist was
placed under investigation on six counts including misreporting campaign
finances, illegal use of digital technology and promoting fascist groups. He
has denied wrongdoing.
In March
Romania’s top court upheld a decision to ban Georgescu from standing in the
rerun of the vote in May, leaving the country’s far-right parties – which hold
more than a third of the seats in parliament – just days to find a presidential
candidate.
Who is
running and what are their chances?
Opinion
polls – which are not especially reliable in Romania, and signally failed to
spot Georgescu’s late surge – suggest four candidates have a chance of
finishing in the top two of the 4 May first round and advancing to the
second-round runoff on 18 May.
They are
headed by George Simion, leader of Romania’s second-largest party, the
far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), who has pitched himself as
a force for change, is fiercely critical of the EU’s leadership and aims to
stop military aid to Ukraine.
Romania’s
ultranationalist forces have united behind Simion, 38, who is averaging about
29% in the polls. He has called the cancelled election a coup and his party,
which began during Covid as an anti-vaxx movement, the “natural allies” of
Trump’s Maga Republicans.
He has
opposed gay marriage and introducing dedicated Holocaust lessons in schools, is
barred from Moldova and Ukraine after supporting a return to Romania’s pre-1939
borders, but has moderated his pro-Moscow views and denies accusations he met
Russian spies.
Behind
Simion are the candidate of the governing Social Democratic party (PSD) and
National Liberal Party (PNL), Crin Antonescu (22%), and the centrist Bucharest
mayor, Nicușor Dan (20%), both of whom support EU and Nato membership and aid
to Ukraine.
Trailing on
about 14% is Victor Ponta, a former PSD prime minister who resigned in 2015
after a deadly nightclub fire led to huge anti-corruption protests. He has
since adopted an ultranationalist discourse, while still backing Romania’s EU
and Nato commitments.
Elena
Lasconi of the reformist Save Romania Union (USR), who finished second behind
Georgescu in November’s cancelled vote, is staying in the race despite her
party’s decision to back Dan – who is running as an independent – instead of
her, but is polling at barely 8%.
For what
they are worth, polls predict Simion, popular among rural and working-class
voters, would beat Dan, whose electorate is largely in Bucharest and other
urban centres, in a hypothetical run-off, but might struggle against the
broader appeal of Antonescu.
How does the
system work?
Any
candidate securing more than 50% of all registered votes in the first round is
declared the winner. Otherwise, a runoff between the contenders who achieved
the two highest first-round scores is won by the candidate with the larger
share of the second-round vote.
Romania’s
president serves for five years and has a semi-executive role with considerable
decision-making powers over foreign policy, national security, defence spending
and judicial appointments. He or she also represents the country on the
international stage.
Romania’s 7
million-strong diaspora, one of Europe’s largest, is rarely included in polls
but casts between 5% and 7% of all ballots. Since 2020 it has been a reliable
source of votes for far-right candidates and parties; more than half voted for
Georgescu in November.
What are the
issues and why does the election matter?
Voters are
fed up with the mainstream politicians who have run Romania since the 1989 fall
of Communism, and their vote is increasingly likely to reflect what analyst
Valentin Naumescu called their “frustrations, revolt and anger towards the
system”.
Median
household income is a third of the EU average; food is 50% more expensive than
five years ago; almost a third of the country’s 19 million people are at risk
of poverty and social exclusion; nearly 20% of the workforce has sought better
opportunities abroad.
Public
services are poor, inequality high, a long history of corrupt and incompetent
politicians has left public trust in MPs and ministers low. The war in Ukraine
is also a major topic, especially for far-right voters who object to Romania’s
continued backing of Kyiv.
The vote
matters abroad because the EU does not want another disruptive, sovereignist
figure in the region alongside Hungary and Slovakia, and Ukraine’s western
allies would prefer Romania, which hosts a big Nato military base, to remain a
strategic ally.
The Trump
administration, which has accused Bucharest of trampling on free speech and
suppressing political opponents, is also watching. JD Vance has asked if
Romania “shares America’s values”, and Elon Musk has asked how a judge can “end
democracy in Romania”.
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