What you need to know about Romania's presidential election
30 April 2025
Romanians will finally vote in the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, 4 May. Or should I say the third? In case you forgot, Romania's supreme court annulled presidential elections at the last minute in December, after it came out that leading pro-Russian far-right candidate Călin Georgescu's campaign was illicitly funded by Russia.
Since then, the court banned Georgescu from competing. The politician who will likely make it into the second round instead is George Simion, a populist who appeals to voters with tradition and religion. Fun fact: Simion is still banned from travelling to Moldova and Ukraine after he initiated protests in Moldova in 2020 to promote the unification of Moldova and parts of Ukraine with Romania and discredited the territorial integrity of both countries.
"Widespread support for the far-right in Romania, both rural and urban, stems less from Russian influence and more from a deep-rooted historical legacy of fascist tendencies passed down through generations," says Cristian Ștefănescu, DW journalist based in Romania.
The second-placed candidate, while not as bad for Europe, may be as bad for Romania. Crin Antonescu is the candidate for the coalition between the moderate right and the social democrats. The issue: these are the the oldest and most systematically entrenched parties, and their coalition government in the past five years has left many Romanians dissatisfied. Oh, and Antonescu has several corruption scandals under his belt.
The one candidate in whom many young people place their hopes, so far polls in third place: Nicusor Dan, the current mayor of Bucharest, who wants more European integration, higher investment in education, and is moderately liberal on queer rights.
 | Alexandra Drugescu-Radulescu Why do these elections even matter? Romania is a semi-presidential republic and the president is the most important person in the state for foreign affairs, setting the tone for how the country enters relations with other states. Europe seemingly dodged the biggest bullet through the annulment of Georgescu's candidacy, even though George Simion winning would place yet another eurosceptic far-right politician at the helm of a large European country. Many Romanians, meanwhile, feel dissatisfied with the choice they have to make this weekend. While some are bitter about Georgescu's ban, others feel perpetually stuck with the sense of having to choose the lesser evil. |
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