Romanian Presidential Elections First Round: Far-Right Candidate Claims Victory

UPDATE: For the coverage & results of the final round of the 2025 Presidential Elections, read my article here.

Far-right candidate George Simion decisively won the first round of Romania’s Presidential elections held in May 2025.

The ultra-nationalist and Eurosceptic candidate secured nearly 41% of the vote, while a very tight battle for second place saw Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan narrowly edge out the ruling coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu, by less than one percentage point.

Good to know: There are two rounds of elections in Romania. The first one pits all candidates together, while the second one decides the winner from the first two from the first round.

Although Simion’s success was anticipated, based on recent opinion polls and the now-annulled 2024 election results, where another far-right candidate, Călin Georgescu, also achieved a surprising but decisive victory, Simion’s substantial first-round win raises concerns about the future of Romania’s pro-European trajectory.

I’ll get into the details about the elections below, but first, let’s check out all the results of the first round of the Romanian Presidential elections on May 4th, 2025:

• George Simion: 40.96% (AUR)
• Nicusor Dan: 20.99% (Independent)
• Crin Antonescu: 20.07% (PSD-PNL-UDMR)
• Victor Ponta: 13.05% (Independent)
• Elena Lasconi: 2.68% (USR)
• Lavinia Sandru: 0.64% (PUSL)
• Others: 1.61%

Number of voters: 53.21% (9,571,740) of the total possible, out of which a massive 973,129 Romanians voted from abroad.

Learn more about the two winners in my dedicated articles: George Simion here and Nicusor Dan here.

Understanding the results

The numbers above paint a bleak picture to Romania’s pro-european, liberal candidates as doing the math shows that second placed Nicusor Dan will have, at the very best, a tough battle against Simion.

Suppose voter turnout were the same in the second round. In that case, Simion would comfortably secure victory, as most of Victor Ponta’s supporters, and at least some of Antonescu’s, would vote for him. This would give Simion at least 55% of the votes – so a pretty massive victory.

However, a higher turnout could dramatically alter the outcome. Experts indicate that a voter participation rate of around 70% to 72% would likely secure a victory for Nicușor Dan.

But will that many Romanians vote? Time will tell, but I have little hope for such a massive turnout, as such high participation wasn’t seen since 1996, when around 76% of the Romanians cast their votes (data via Idea).

History Repeating

While there are all sorts of scenarios being run today, the results of the presidential elections are very similar to those in the year 2000 when PSD’s candidate Ion Iliescu faced extremist Corneliu Vadim Tudor in the second round.

Back then, voter turnout was significantly higher – a whopping 65% in the first round and 57.5% in the second. Iliescu eventually won decisively with 66%, receiving broad support even from liberal voters who aimed to prevent the extremist Tudor from assuming office.

So… while the game is still on, the massive turnover in the second round is not guaranteed. (Note: read about the 2,000 elections in Romania here).

Voters from Abroad

Simion performed exceptionally well among Romanians abroad, receiving 60.80% of diaspora votes from a record-breaking 973,000 overseas voters. Nicușor Dan secured 25.60%, while Crin Antonescu garnered only 6.76%.

Despite Simion’s strong overseas performance, it was also the diaspora that ultimately pushed Dan into second place, as he gained a crucial lead of approximately 90,000 votes over Antonescu, primarily from diaspora voters (247,082 votes versus Antonescu’s 65,215).

Still, seeing Simion’s nationalist and isolationist stance resonate so strongly among Romanians abroad is almost a paradox, as it is exactly the globalization effects – and being part of the EU – that allowed those Romanians to easily find jobs abroad, in the first place.

Still, many left their families behind due to limited employment opportunities within the country and are upset with a system that seems not to care about their needs.

Elena Lasconi’s Fall

Elena Lasconi received less than 3% of the votes, despite being placed second in the now-cancelled November elections, where she scored a much better 19%.

So… what happened in the mean time?

While the situation is more complex, the summary would be that Lasconi was the right person at the right place in the previous elections – the electorate wanted to stay away from the big political parties that ruled Romania since the revolution in 1989. They had to choose either Georgescu or Lasconi.

While most chose the former, pro-Europeans who voted against the system didn’t really have any other choice than Lasconi.

In May’s elections, things have changed, with Nicusor Dan being considered by many a better option. Even Lasconi’s political party, USR, decided to no longer support her Presidential run in favor of the better-placed Dan.

Other scandals sealed her fate, including her sharing allegedly doctored photographs implying secret meetings between Dan and Ponta, resulting in legal action from the former two.

The rise of Nicușor Dan

Following the annulment of the 2024 elections, many called upon Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan to run for president. And he surprisingly accepted the challenge, although he was not as popular or well-known outside of Bucharest.

But with his pro-European stance, a promised fight against corruption, and a solid track record as the mayor of Romania’s capital (as well as a solid campaign), he managed to become an important player in national politics.

Dan, a technocrat with a distinguished academic background, including a victory at the International Mathematics Olympiad of 1987, followed by another golden win in 1988, and a perceived outsider status from the established political order, secured a somewhat surprising and narrow second-place finish over ruling coalition candidate Crin Antonescu.

A country divided (and isolated?)

The results of the first round of the Romanian Presidential elections show that the country is divided like never before. If, until recently, the main battles were against pro-European candidates and ideologies (usually, center-left PSD and center-right PNL), this time it’s the extremists who have gained ground and seem to have the upper hand.

Simion’s impressive performance echoes the global trend toward nationalism and populism and indicates significant voter support for ultra-nationalist, sovereigntist, and anti-Western narratives.

If George Simion manages to secure his spot as President (and, based on the results, he has high chances to do so), Romania might become more isolated, reduced foreign investment, and see increased tensions within the European Union.

Additionally, strained relations with European partners might hinder Romania’s access to important EU funding, essential for infrastructure and social programs – and the main reason why this country improved so much over the years.

Simion also opposes military support for neighboring Ukraine, aligns himself with former US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, and effectively utilizes populist rhetoric to galvanize widespread domestic support.

Just look at the map below:

Purple shows the counties in Romania in which Simion won, while light-blue shows counties won by Crin Antonescu. Nicusor Dan only managed to win two (although important) spots: the county of Cluj Napoca and Bucharest.

It is true that Nicusor Dan won comfortably in the major cities in Romania: Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Brasov, Timisoara, etc, but it is still the majority of voters that matters in a democracy.

So to say that the second round of the elections will be brutal is an understatement.

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What are your thoughts on the matter? Any predictions regarding the winner of the second round? I am curious to see what you think.