Romania’s Presidential Race: Top 3 Candidates to Watch
INTRO BY
On Thursday, the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) of Romania finalized the list of candidates for the presidential election scheduled for May 2025. Eleven candidates will compete for the presidency in Romania:
- Nicusor-Daniel Dan – independent candidate
- George Crin Laurentiu Antonescu – Forward Romania electoral alliance
- Victor Viorel Ponta – independent candidate
- Elena Valerica Lasconi – Save Romania Union (USR)
- Cristian Vasile Terhes – The Romanian National Conservative Party (PNCR)
- Marcela Lavinia Sandru – The Social Liberal Humanist Party (PUSL)
- George Nicolae Simion – The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)
- John-Ion Banu-Muscel – Independent candidate
- Silviu Predoiu – The National Action League Party (PLAN)
- Petru Daniel Funeriu – Independent candidate
- Sebastian Constantin Popescu – The New Romania Party (PNR)
The nomination of Anamaria Gavrila, the leader of the Sovereigntist Youth Party (POT), received approval; however, she retracted her candidacy last night to endorse fellow sovereigntist candidate Gheorghe Simion. The election campaign is set to begin on April 4 and will conclude on May 3 at 7:00 a.m. In the event that no candidate secures an absolute majority, a runoff election is scheduled for May 18.
But who genuinely stands a chance of emerging victorious?
IMAGE: Bucharest mayor Nicusur Dan (Left), Right-wing AUR leader George Simion (Center), and the ruling coalition’s candidate Crin Antonescu (Right) are the most likely candidates to make it to the second round of Romania’s May 2025 presidential election.
Iulian Ernst reports for IntellNews...
Three main candidates emerge in race for Romania’s presidency
Three candidates have emerged as the main players ahead of the presidential rerun scheduled for May: the ruling coalition’s candidate Crin Antonescu, the president of far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) George Simion and Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan.
Based on the available polls, and an evaluation of the candidate’s potential and political developments in Romania, two of the three are expected to make it to the second round of the election, but at this moment it is still premature to forecast the outcome of the first ballot.
While Antonescu seems to trail behind his two opponents, he benefits from the support of the regional networks of Romania’s main ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL). Although some factions in both the Liberal and Social Democratic parties are visibly not pleased with Antonescu’s candidacy, this remains a significant asset.
Unlike last year’s ballot, the ruling coalition (now consolidated with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, UDMR) came up this time with a single candidate – even if he is perhaps not the preferred candidate for each of the coalition’s members.
Simion expects to capitalise on the electorate of Calin Georgescu – seen at an electoral support of over 40%, in recent polls. Georgescu has been banned from running again, based on his alleged manipulation of the electoral process. But this [could] diminish Simion’s profile and possibly his score, and Georgescu’s electorate may be thinner and less active than believed, although many see Simion as one of the candidates in the second round.
Dan, running as an independent candidate for the centre-right electorate, stepped into the electoral race immediately after the ballot was cancelled last year. With demonstrated administrative but also political achievements, he emerged as the de facto leader of the democratic opposition after last year’s local and European elections. But the reformist Union Save Romania (USR), co-founded by Dan, failed to bring him back – an option that could have changed the course of the presidential elections in November-December.
Dan is expected to gain support from centre-right electorate, including some traditional voters of the PNL and USR.
Another relevant candidate is USR president Elena Lasconi, who is trying to capitalise on her good score in the cancelled election last November when she came second after Georgescu.
The candidate registration process ended on March 15 and the candidate clearing process, carried out by the Constitutional Court, expired on March 19.
On March 19, Anamaria Gavrila – the other candidate backed by Georgescu (besides AUR’s Simion) stepped down from the electoral race, after being cleared by the Constitutional Court.
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SOURCE
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