Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan on Monday announced he intended to run in Romania’s 2.0 presidential elections.
The first round of presidential elections were stunningly canceled on December 6 after declassified intelligence files revealed that a foreign actor had intervened to illegally favor a radical NATO and EU skeptic candidate who improbably won the first round.
President Klaus Iohannis will remain in office until a new president is elected. The new government will set a date for the new presidential election, expected to be in the Spring.
Ending a day of rumors about his intentions, the mayor said: “I announce that I intend to run in the 2025 presidential elections.”
The 54-year-old mayor said he would run as an independent and was open to discussions with pro-European parties to support this candidacy. He is the first political heavyweight to announce he will run for president in the new elections.
“It will be a fight that will involve administrative mechanisms, the need for political coagulation and justice,” he said. “Romania does not have a direction today,” the mayor of Bucharest also said in the statement.
Soil scientist Calin Georgescu_ who declared zero spending on his campaign mainly run on TikTok_ surged to first place and was considered the frontrunner for the Dec. 8 runoff before the Constitutional Court stepped in and annulled the race.
It is unclear whether he will stand again. Members of his entourage have been questioned after police found weapons and large sums of money in their possession. They were reportedly heading to the capital to create public disorder after the vote was canceled.
Asked why he had decided to compete in the race, just months after he was successfully re-elected for another four-year term, Mr. Dan said:
“Bucharest residents cannot live well in A Bucharest where Romania is not doing well.”
“I will run independently. I am open to discussions with the pro-European parties to support this candidacy. A president is needed to ensure that the pro-reform direction announced by the parties is followed in their activity,” he said.
The day when it suddenly wasn’t OK to be pro-European in Romania
