Ultranationalist Candidate Achieves Lead in Romania's 2025 Presidential Elections; Competition Neck-and-Neck for Second Place
In the redo of the 2025 Romanian presidential election, after the scrap of the first November 2024 vote due to foreign interference suspicions, the leading contenders in the initial round—held on May 4, 2025—were as follows:
Firebrand George Simion, the head honcho of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), rocketed to the top, gobbling up more than 40% of the votes, according to exit polls conducted by CURS and Avangarde.
In a breathtakingly close race, Crin Antonescu, the czar of the governing coalition, and Nicușor Dan, the popular Bucharest mayor mounting an independent campaign, were hot on his heels. Avangarde placed them with the same score, while CURS showed the canditate of the joint Social Democrat Party (PSD), National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) coalition narrowly in the lead.
The polls, however, didn't capture the vote in the diaspora. The Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), including votes from the diaspora, reported a turnout of 53.2%, equating to 9.5 million voters. A staggering 969,023 people cast their votes in the diaspora, up from the 817,476 who voted in the November 2024 presidential elections.
Eleven rivals battled it out in this year's repeat presidential elections. The Constitutional Court decided to nix the results of last year's presidential elections because of allegations of foreign influence.
The results are progressively updated here as polling stations start sending them in.
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Who's vying for Romania's presidency in 2025?
What's the role and powers of Romania's president? A quick rundown
In this cutthroat political landscape, accounts of individuals like George Simion (AUR), Nicușor Dan (independent, supported by several small parties), Crin Antonescu (supported by the A.RO coalition), Victor Ponta (independent, Pro Romania), and Elena Lasconi (Save Romania Union, USR) playing out their increasingly radical agendas can't be ignored. These leaders, respectively, champion far-right nationalism, centrist perspectives, moderate political stances, neoliberal ambitions, and progressive ideals, showcasing the acute polarization and contentious nature of the electoral battlefield.
Romanians in the diaspora are playing a significant role in the 2025 presidential election, with a notable increase in voters compared to the previous election. This year, Romania's president, who holds considerable power in politics, will be chosen from amongst a diverse pool of candidates, including George Simion from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), Nicusor Dan, an independent candidate, Crin Antonescu from the A.RO coalition, Victor Ponta an independent candidate representing Pro Romania, and Elena Lasconi from the Save Romania Union (USR). The polling results from the diaspora have yet to be fully accounted for in the general news.
