Nicușor Daniel Dan (born 20 December 1969) is a Romanian mathematician and politician serving as the seventh President of Romania since 2025. He previously served as the Mayor of Bucharest from 2020 to 2025 and as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2016 to 2020.
Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Dan studied mathematics at the University of Bucharest before continuing his studies in France, where he obtained a Master's degree from the École normale supérieure and a PhD from Paris 13 University. After returning to Romania, he founded the Școala Normală Superioară București, a research institution in mathematics, and participated in civic initiatives concerning urban governance and heritage preservation.
In 2015, Dan founded the Save Bucharest Union (USB), a political party focused on anti-corruption and urban development. He co-founded the Save Romania Union (USR) in 2016 and resigned in 2017 following internal disagreements regarding the party's ideological direction, subsequently advocating a big tent approach centred on institutional reform. He served in the Chamber of Deputies from 2016 until he was elected mayor of Bucharest in 2020. He was re-elected in 2024 and served until he was elected president. As mayor, his administration oversaw public infrastructure projects, municipal financial policy, and administrative reforms.
Dan was elected President of Romania in 2025 as an independent candidate, with second-round support from the USR, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Union of Hungarians (UDMR), defeating George Simion of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). He campaigned on a pro-European Union and pro-NATO platform. His presidency has been marked by political instability, including the collapse of a governing coalition led by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, president of the PNL, following a motion of no confidence in May 2026.
In 2026, some commentators described his contacts with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leaders and figures within the American Republican Party as a political realignment towards euroscepticism, a characterisation he disputed while reaffirming Romania's commitments to the EU and NATO.
Early life and education Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Dan attended the Radu Negru High School in his native city, graduating in 1988. He came first in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 1987 and 1988 with perfect scores. Dan moved to Bucharest at the age of 18 and began studying mathematics at the University of Bucharest.
In 1992, he moved to France to continue studying mathematics; he attended the École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles, where he earned a master's degree. In 1998 Dan completed a PhD in mathematics at Paris 13 University, with thesis "Courants de Green et prolongement méromorphe" written under the direction of Christophe Soulé and . He returned to Bucharest that year, giving as reasons the cultural differences and the desire to change Romania.Sandra Pralong (ed), De ce m-am întors în România, "10 ani în România" , Polirom, 2010,
Dan was one of the creators and the first administrative director of the , a university set up on the model of the French École Normale Supérieure within the Romanian Academy's Institute of Mathematics. , he was a professor of mathematics at the institute.
Activism In 1998, Dan founded Asociația "Tinerii pentru Acțiune Civică" ("Young People for Civic Action" Association), for which he wanted to gather a thousand young people who wanted to change Romania, which was his stated goal for returning to the country. Despite failing in its goals, the association did organise two forums for young people who studied abroad, in 2000 and 2002, to which a few hundred people participated. As a result of these forums, the "Ad Astra" Association of Romanian researchers was created in 2000.
Save Bucharest Association Dan founded the Asociația "Salvați Bucureștiul" ("Save Bucharest" Association) in 2006 as a reaction to the demolition of architectural heritage houses and the building of high-rise buildings in protected Bucharest neighborhoods, as well as the diminishing number of green space areas in Bucharest.
In March 2008, the association published the "Bucharest, an urbanistic disaster" Report, which discussed Bucharest's problems and ways to overcome them. In the same year, during the elections, together with other NGOs, the association drafted a Pact for Bucharest, which was signed by all the candidates for mayor of Bucharest. On April Fools' Day in 2012, Dan published a list of 100 electoral promises made by elected mayor of Bucharest Sorin Oprescu which were not kept, including the "Pact for Bucharest".
The association was involved in many court cases, winning 23 against the local authorities of Bucharest. Among them are the cancellation of a project which would have built a water park on 7 hectares of Tineretului Park, saving from demolition a number of heritage buildings on Șoseaua Kiseleff no. 45, and the cancellation of a project which would have built a glass building on top of Palatul Știrbei on Calea Victoriei. The association was also able to push for some changes in 2009 to the urban planning law.
Early political career 2012 local elections
Dan announced his candidacy for Mayor of Bucharest in November 2011 at a café on Arthur Verona Street, with just a few guests, including Theodor Paleologu, a historian and Member of Parliament. For gathering the 36,000 signatures needed for his candidacy, having the backing of no party, he relied on a network of volunteers organised on Facebook. On 22 April 15 bands and musicians performed pro-bono at for Dan's campaign in order to help him gather the signatures. During the 12-hour-long concert, volunteers gathered 4,000 signatures.
Political positions and programme Among his proposed projects are the creation of a light rail infrastructure over the existing rail lines in Bucharest, creating an infrastructure for prioritising public transport over other traffic in intersections, consolidating buildings that are likely to be affected by earthquakes, protecting the urban green space and clearing illegal buildings from parks. Dan argues that it is important to incentivise young people to stay in the city, by making it a regional hub in IT, creative industries and higher education, and attracting investors and skilled people from across the region.
Support and opinions on his candidacy Dan received support from Andrei Pleșu, who argued that Dan was the only one of the candidates who was interested in the architecture of Bucharest and did not support any utopian initiatives. He also received support from political scientist and Member of the European Parliament Cristian Preda. Dan gained the support of some journalists who wrote about him in op-eds from several newspapers: Andrei Crăciun of Adevărul saw in him "a Don Quijote untouched by the vulgar lard of undeserved riches" and "a person who works against the system". Florin Negruțiu, the editor-in-chief of Gândul thought he was an "atypical candidate" for Bucharest, the model candidate of the intellectuals; nevertheless, the journalist did not see any chances that Dan would become mayor, because he was "too serious" a candidate, and unlikely to appeal to the masses. Neculai Constantin Munteanu from Radio Free Europe wrote that he supported Dan for his unselfish way of caring about Bucharest and that his opponents were "comedians", from whom one could "admire the imposture, ludicrousness, and incompetence".
2016 local elections Having registered Save Bucharest Union (USB) as a political party in 2015, Dan ran again for Mayor of Bucharest in 2016. This time, the 2016 Romanian local elections were held in a single round. He gained 30.52% of the total votes, losing to the social-democrat candidate, Gabriela Firea, who gained 42.97% of the total votes. In the election, Dan managed to attract the young electorate, with over half of his voters being under the age of 40. Some of USB's candidates for sector mayor have also performed well in their respective races, proving USB's viability as a future political force.
Save Romania Union Wanting to capitalise on the momentum that saw him gain a third of the votes in the local elections, Dan announced shortly after the 2016 local election that the Save Bucharest Union would change its name to Save Romania Union (USR), shifting its focus to a national stage. He also announced plans for the new party to enter the 2016 Romanian parliamentary election. With Dan at the top of the candidate list, USR gained 8.92% of the vote in the Senate race and 8.87% in the Chamber of Deputies, which made them the third largest party in Romania. The result also meant that Dan became a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
Departure from USR In 2017, anti-same-sex NGO Coaliția pentru Familie managed to raise the necessary number of signatures to organise a referendum that would change the part of the Romanian Constitution dealing with marriage, with the hope of redefining it as "between a man and a woman". This created a rift within USR, between the progressive wing, who wanted USR to become the only parliamentary party to oppose the initiative, and Dan, who believed USR should not get involved in the debate and that the party should remain open for both progressives and conservatives. An internal referendum within the party followed, in which 52.7% of members voted to position the party against the Constitutional initiative, which led Dan to resign from the party on 1 June 2017. As explanation for his opposition to the National Council vote he cited religious matters, the dangers of deviating from the main party issue of fighting against corruption and his refusal to belong to a party that defines itself as a party of civil liberties.
Independent After his resignation from USR, Dan continued to serve as a member of the Chamber of Deputies as an independent. Due to a quirk in the Romanian electoral law, USR required his signature when they attempted to legally register their alliance (2020 USR-PLUS Alliance) with the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS). In order to help his former party, in March 2019 Dan briefly rejoined USR as a common member, gave the necessary signature and then resigned for a second time.
Mayor of Bucharest (2020–2025)
2020 local elections In May 2019, Dan announced his plans to once again run for Mayor of Bucharest, as an independent. Dan mentioned that while he hoped that his candidacy would be supported by the rest of the opposition parties, he would not run against a different common candidate, unwilling to split the vote of the opposition. He was ultimately supported by both USR and the National Liberal Party (PNL). With 95% of votes counted, partial results suggested that he won the mayoral election with 42.8% of votes. Shortly afterwards exit polls showed him winning the race, he announced victory. On 5 October 2020 the Central Electoral Bureau confirmed his status as the new Mayor of Bucharest, winning the elections with a plurality of 42.81% against Gabriela Firea (37.97%), the former Mayor.
2024 local elections