Pro-West Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan staged a dramatic comeback on Sunday to decisively win the Romanian presidential elections over a MAGA-aligned Euroskeptic.
Dan won 53.6% of the votes while his contender, George Simion took 46.4%. At first, the nationalist refused to concede in the high-drama stake elections which has transfixed and polarized the country on EU and NATO’s eastern flank, but later congratulated his rival.
“It was the will of the Romanian people. We will continue to the end, even if the bitter taste of defeat us hard,” Simion said early Monday.
Romanians turned out in record numbers to choose Dan, an independent, who represented continuing their pro-Western path. The unassuming mayor of Bucharest was up against nationalist and victimhood doctrines of Simion and his ally Calin Georgescu as well as mainstream political parties, who he defeated to reach the second round.
As future president Dan faces a massive challenge to reunite the warring sides and address the looming economic turmoil that has worsened amid six months of political instability.
But his win is is a sigh of relief for the EU, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as Dan has promised to form a pro-Western majority in parliament.
The rerun came after the Constitutional Court annulled the previous presidential vote held in November and December 2024, triggering the current political crisis. It determined that a Kremlin-friendly outsider Calin Georgescu had illegally benefited from Russian and other interference to surprisingly win the first round. He was barred from the rerun.
Addressing jubilant crowds waving Romanian and EU flags in downtown Bucharest, Dan proclaimed that “from tomorrow, Romania begins a new stage,” and called for reconciliation. “We need to build Romania together irrespective of who you voted for,” he told jubilant supporters.
“We need specialists for public policies, the civil society and new people in politics,” Dan aid.
