Independent candidate Nicușor Dan has won the Romanian presidential election rerun thriller, which transfixed and polarised the country on Sunday.
After 97% of votes were counted, Dan maintained an advantage of 54% over his nationalist competitor George Simion, who won 45% of voters’ support — a difference of around 900,000 votes, which, with only half a million ballots to count, has become impossible to overcome.
The late-night cliffhanger came after 11 million Romanians voted, with a 64% turnout, in a high-stakes repeat of the annulled presidential vote in December 2024.
Earlier on Sunday, domestic exit polls published by Euronews Romania projected Dan had won about 54% of the vote on Sunday, while Simion hovered around 45% — which turned out to be an accurate prediction.
As things stand, the country on NATO’s eastern flank chose the pro-EU, pro-NATO candidate in a massive turnout marked by fear and resentment, overturning Simion’s lead in the first round.
Everyone’s a winner
Earlier on Sunday, both candidates declared victory as they awaited the official count.
“Today’s win is by a Romanian community that wants a profound change,” Dan said after the polls became public. “We are living a moment of hope.”
“From tomorrow, all together, let’s start Romania’s reconstruction. Romania will go through hard moment let’s remember the force of our nation,” Dan added.
“It is our duty to fight for a single Romania, not for two Romanias,” he concluded.
Euronews Romania’s live coverage has shown hundreds of celebrating Dan supporters flooding the central avenue in front of Bucharest’s town hall, where the independent candidate was voted mayor twice.
Meanwhile, Simion declared himself “Romania’s new president” at his party’s gathering in the Romanian parliament in Bucharest.
“A new era is born tonight. It is time for an epoch in which Romania be democratic, Christian and rich. So help us God,” Simion announced.
“We are the clear winners of these elections. We claim the victory in the name of the Romanian people. It is the victory of the humiliated Romanian people,” he said.
“It does not matter which side each of us has been in these elections, this is democracy, we now need to shake hands.”
Simion also thanked the Romanian diaspora, whom he visited extensively over the last days of the presidential campaign earlier this week.
“I owe today’s victory to the Romanian diaspora. You Romanian who left abroad, you must know that only with you we can make Romania great among the states of the free world.”
“I don’t promise miracles, but I promise to be among you,” he concluded.
Simion then left the stage to the sound of Village People’s “YMCA,” one of US President Donald Trump’s favourite tracks on his 2024 campaign trail.
Fake news campaign spotted again
In the last hours of the voting, Romania’s foreign, interior and defence ministries denounced what they called “Russian interference,” warning voters about a fake news campaign rolled out on Telegram, TikTok and other social media platforms.
The Romanian foreign ministry spokesperson Andrei Tarnea said on X Sunday that “once again we see the distinctive signs of Russian interference (…) to influence the electoral process.
“This was expected,” he added.
In a coordinated move, the three ministries revealed that a fake video published on Sunday “falsely claims that French troops in Romania secretly wear Romanian gendarmerie uniforms to intervene internally,” has been linked directly to Russia.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov revealed that he refused a request from “a Western country”, which he didn’t name, to “silence” the conservative voices in Romania.
“Telegram will not restrict the liberties of Romanian users, nor will it block their political channels”, Durov said.
Follow Euronews Romania’s live coverage of the presidential election repeat’s runoff here.
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