Presidential elections were held in Romania on 4 May 2025, with a second round on 18 May 2025. Nicușor Dan and George Simion were the two candidates who advanced to the second round, in which the former was victorious. Dan's term as the sixth president of Romania began on 26 May.
The election was scheduled in January 2025 following the annulment of the 2024 Romanian presidential election citing alleged Russian meddling in favour of first-round winner Călin Georgescu. The campaign was characterised by political instability and a series of protests against the annulment. On 7 March, Georgescu was barred from running, pending several criminal investigations, with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) leader Simion announcing his candidacy in Georgescu's place.
Simion, who won 40.96% of the vote in the first round, faced Dan, who garnered 20.99% of the vote, in the second round that was held on 18 May 2025. Dan won with 53.6% against Simion's 46.4%. On 20 May, having previously conceded the election and congratulated Dan on his victory, Simion stated that he had formally filed a contest of the results with the Romanian Constitutional Court, alleging mass voter fraud. Simion's request for the annulment of the election was rejected by the Court two days later, and Dan's presidency began on 26 May.
Background
Previous election annulled On 6 December 2024, the 2024 Romanian presidential election, was annulled by the Constitutional Court of Romania, 48 hours before the second round was to be held, citing alleged Russian intervention on behalf of independent candidate, Călin Georgescu, who took a shock lead in the first round with 23%. CSAT said the campaign was "identical" to the online campaign launched by Russia before its invasion of Ukraine. On 20 December, an investigation was published showing that PNL had seemingly paid for one of the TikTok campaigns. PNL interim president Ilie Bolojan had stated that the campaign was altered illegally to favour Georgescu but did not blame the company they worked with for the alteration.
Second Ciolacu cabinet After the 2024 Romanian parliamentary election, the second Ciolacu cabinet was formed as a minority coalition between PSD, PNL, and UDMR, with confidence and supply from minority parties, on 23 December 2024. Furthermore, Ilie Bolojan became President of the Senate of Romania and Ciprian-Constantin Șerban became the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania. The cabinet passed with a seven-vote majority and became official. Opposition leaders (most prominently George Simion and POT Leader Anamaria Gavrilă) called the cabinet illegitimate and for the resignation of incumbent president Klaus Iohannis.
President Iohannis' resignation and political crisis Following the annulment of the 2024 presidential election in December, Iohannis was allowed to stay on as president by the Constitutional Court until his successor could be sworn in. On 10 February, following an attempt by members of parliament to impeach him, Iohannis announced that he would resign on 12 February. Senate president Ilie Bolojan assumed the role of acting president until the elections.
Georgescu barring and Simion candidacy
On 26 February 2025, Georgescu was stopped by police in traffic, while allegedly on his way to register for the election. He was charged with six offenses, including incitement to actions against the constitutional order, and support of fascist groups. Preemptive measures have been imposed, including judiciary control, and a 60-day ban on posting xenophobic and antisemitic materials to social networks (although such actions are already illegal in Romania). The police claimed to have found ten million U.S. dollars buried inside his bodyguard's house along with plane tickets to Moscow.
On 7 March, Georgescu filed his candidacy to the Central Electoral Bureau, being rejected two days later which led to new protests. Consequently, George Simion arrived to the Central Electoral Bureau on 14 March accompanied by former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki to file his candidacy after collecting 604,000 signatures, above the minimum requirement of 200,000. The CEB approved his candidacy on the following day, which was also the deadline for candidates to register, with Simion stating "We passed the BEC, now let's see if we pass the CCR and return to democracy". The CCR validated his candidacy one day later as well as the ones of Nicușor Dan and Victor Ponta.
Election date
The date of the first round had initially been publicly speculated by news media as 23 March 2025, with the runoff two weeks later (6 April 2025). In early January, these dates became obsolete, as the law for electing the president of Romania requires a minimum of 75 days between the election day and the day the election is called. On 8 January, the coalition fixed the dates of the election. The first round was scheduled to be held on 4 May 2025 with the second round two weeks later (18 May 2025).
+DateEvent 8 January The government fixed the date for the election (first round on 4 May 2025) 20 February The Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) is constituted (judges from the High Court of Cassation and Justice drawn, and representatives of the Permanent Electoral Authority) 21 February The BEC is finalised (representatives form the parliamentary parties) 23 February Deadline for registration of electoral alliances at BEC 15 March Deadline for candidates to register, 23:59:59 (at BEC) 17 March Deadline for BEC to validate or reject candidates registered on 15 March (48 hours after registering) 19 March Deadline to file complaints at CCR against BEC decision (of validation or rejection of a candidacy) (24 hours after BEC ruling) 20 March Definitive candidacies announced 22 March BEC determines the order of the candidates on the ballot paper (lottery) 4 April The start of the electoral campaign (at 7:00) 2 May The end of the electoral campaign (at 22:00)Voting at polling stations abroad begins at 7:00 a.m. local time 4 May Voting in Romania begins at 7:00 a.m.
Candidates The Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) was constituted on 21 February 2025.BEC 2025 press release The deadline for registering electoral alliances at the BEC was on 23 February 2025. By that deadline, only one electoral alliance was registered, between the governing PSD, PNL, and UDMR, called the Romania Forward Electoral Alliance (; A.Ro for short).
Persons who wished to run for the office could begin gathering the support signatures (a minimum of 200,000) after 23 February. The deadline for registering the candidacy at the BEC was 15 March 2025, at 23:59:59. All candidatures validated by the BEC had to pass the scrutiny of the Constitutional Court of Romania. On 19 March, Gavrilă withdrew her candidacy for president, endorsing Simion. A final list of all 11 candidates was released on the following day. On 22 March, a random draw took place, placing Simion on the first position on the ballot and Nicușor Dan on the last.
Advanced to runoff NameCampaign and affiliationPublic office experienceParty and endorsementsCandidacy related datesGeorge SimionDemocrație
(Website)Ballot affiliation: Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)Endorsed by: , , BEC validation: 15 March 2025Nicușor DanRomânia Onestă
(Website)Ballot affiliation: IndependentEndorsed by: , , , , , , , , BEC registration: BEC validation: 9 March 2025BEC validation upheld by Constitutional Court:
Other registered candidates in ballot order NameCampaign and affiliationPublic office experienceParty and endorsementsCandidacy related datesCrin AntonescuRomânia, înainte!(website)Acting president of Romania (2012)President of the Senate (2012–2014)Minister of Youth and Sport (1997–2000)Senator (2008–2016)Deputy (1992–2008)Affiliation: A.RoEndorsed by: Ethnic minority partiesValidated as PNL candidate: Validated as UDMR candidate: Validated as PSD candidate: BEC registration: BEC validation: 11 March 2025BEC validation upheld by Constitutional Court: Elena LasconiAm curaj să fac dreptate!(website)Mayor of Câmpulung (2024–present)Affiliation: USR: BEC validation: 15 March 2025Cristian TerheșCredincios națiunii româneMEP (2019–present)Affiliation: PNCR BEC validation: 15 March 2025 Lavinia ȘandruRomânia RealăDeputy (2004–2008)Affiliation: PUSL BEC validation: 15 March 2025 Victor PontaRomânia pe primul loc! (website)Prime Minister (2012–2015)Deputy (2004–2020, 2024–present)Minister of Parliamentary Relations (2008–2009)Affiliation: noneEndorsed by: PRR, PER, PRO, RoSAT, PRM, and PPMP BEC validation: 14 March 2025 No campaign informationNo previous public officeAffiliation: PNR Competență. Character. Curaj.(website)Acting chief of Foreign Intelligence Service (2006–2007)First deputy chief of Foreign Intelligence Service (2005–2018)Affiliation: PLAN Democrația și Civilizația trebuiesc apărate de către cetățeni(website)No previous public officeAffiliation: none BEC validation: 15 March 2025 Daniel FuneriuAsta-i direcția!Minister of Education (2009–2012), MEP (2008–2009)Affiliation: none
Registered, but later withdrawn candidates NameCampaign sloganPublic Office ExperienceParty and endorsementsCandidacy and withdrawal related dates Anamaria GavrilăNo campaign informationDeputy (2020–present)2020–2024 legislature CVAffiliation: POT BEC validation: 15 March 2025Withdrawn: 19 March 2025
Rejected candidates The following is a list of people that have filed a candidacy at the Central Electoral Bureau and were rejected for not complying the legal requirements to be allowed to run.
NameCampaign sloganPublic office experienceParty and endorsementsCandidacy related dates Petru Mîndru No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Maria Marcu No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Ion Popa No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none BEC rejection: 9 March 2025 Călin Georgescu No campaign information Executive director of the UN Global Sustainable Index Institute Foundation in Geneva (2015–2016)Executive director of the National Center of Sustainable Development (1997–2013)Secretary of State with the Ministry of Environment ( 2010) Affiliation: noneEndorsed by: AUR and POT : Matei Vanea No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Paul Ipsas No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Constantin Vieriu No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă No campaign informationMEP (2024–present)Senator (2020–2024) Affiliation: S.O.S. Romania Tiță Gicu-Romeo No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Remus Pricopie No campaign information Minister of Education (2012–2014) Affiliation: none Oana Crețu No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: PSDU Constantin-Titian Filip No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none Gelu Drăgan No campaign information No previous public office Affiliation: none
Expressed interest publicly but failed to register in time NameCampaign sloganPublic office experienceParty and endorsementsCandidacy related dates Schimbă Constituția(Change the Constitution)cristiansima.ro/schimbaconstitutia.ro/ No campaign information Affiliation: none Ana Birchall No campaign information Deputy Prime Minister (2018–2019)Minister of JusticeDeputy (2012–2020) Affiliation: none Anton PisarogluNo campaign informationNo previous public office Affiliation: none
Declined to run