Romania elections: Historic victory for pro-European candidate

Thousands of jubilant people gathered on Queen Elizabeth Boulevard in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on Sunday evening to celebrate.

Waving Romanian and EU flags, they repeatedly chanted the first name of the man who had just won the presidential election: “Nicusor! Nicusor!”

The man in question, Nicusor Dan, appeared on a balcony, waving an EU flag and greeting supporters below. Finally, at half past midnight, he appeared outside the door of the building to thunderous applause.

In his usual uncharismatic, unpretentious yet approachable manner, the president-elect thanked his supporters. He then turned his attention to those who had not voted for him, saying: “I invite you to help build Romania together.”

There was nothing triumphalist about Dan’s brief address: “Let us continue to believe in Romania,” he concluded, “and get to work tomorrow!”

Who is Nicusor Dan?

Nicusor Dan is a mathematician and former civic activist who became mayor of Bucharest and then ran for the presidency as an independent candidate.

His win is unexpected, with the 55-year-old coming from far behind in the polls to win the second round of the election, catching up in a way no electoral candidate in Romania has ever done before.

After the first round of the election two weeks ago, Dan was a whole 20% behind his opponent, the right-wing extremist George Simion, in Sunday’s runoff.

But Dan obviously won over several million voters in the intervening period, winning the second round with about 54% of the vote to Simion’s 46%.

Romania avoids far-right course

This is good news for Romania, the European Union and, in particular, Ukraine.

Simion, a former football hooligan and pro-Russian right-wing extremist who openly supports US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, got 41% of the vote in the first round and was hotly tipped to win the second round, too.

Had he won, he would have led Romania, the most populous country in southeastern Europe, on an isolationist, anti-European, hard-right path. Ultimately, it would seem, the majority of Romanian voters were put off by this prospect.

Dan, on the other hand, also benefited from his reputation as the honest candidate, a former activist who fought Bucharest’s real estate mafia and is not part of the despised “establishment” with its corrupt party cronyism that has dominated Romania for the past 30 years.

Other things that obviously bolstered Dan’s election campaign were the fact that he made a level-headed impression on people in his public appearances, made no exaggerated promises and showed interest in the concerns of all sections of society, while at the same time holding fast to his stance on the rule of law, Europe and support for Ukraine.

Dan’s broad appeal

As a young man, Dan won two gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. He is a practicing Christian and someone who prefers not to raise exaggerated expectations or make bombastic statements.

His views are largely liberal and occasionally moderately conservative. When giving a speech, he sometimes ties himself in knots trying to explain complex problems. He is capable of admitting mistakes and despite sticking to his principles, remains undogmatic.

Dan has lived with his partner out of wedlock for the past 20 years — something which does not always go down well in rural Romania in particular. The couple have two children.

Dan’s blend of down-to-earth honesty, obstinacy, pinch of traditionalism, genuine humility and dependability obviously made him electable for voters across the spectrum.

Formation of a government

As promised during his election campaign, Dan announced after his victory that he would be holding talks on the formation of a government with “all four democratic parties” in the Romanian parliament.

By these, he meant the Social Democrats, the National Liberals, the progressive liberal Save Romania Union and the party of the Hungarian minority, the UDMR, and representatives of other minorities.

Dan has said that he will appoint as prime minister Ilie Bolojan of the National Liberal Party. Bolojan has been interim president for the past few months and was formerly the mayor of the western Romanian city of Oradea.

A referendum on Romania’s future path

Voter turnout for the runoff was 64%, which was relatively high in comparison to the 53% recorded in the first round. A lot of people went to cast their vote on Sunday, particularly in the cities.

The vast majority of commentators agreed that the election was a “referendum on Romania’s fundamental course” and that the majority of people had opted for the European path.

One group of experts on the television channel Digi24, described the election as a “battle between democracy and autocracy-kleptocracy.”

Political scientist Costin Ciobanu said that democracy in Romania was the winner in this election, adding, however, that “it had not been saved by established parties; it was the people that saved the country.”

An indirect defeat for Orban

Romania-watchers also see the election result as a defeat for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Speaking on May 9, Orban gave his backing to right-wing extremist Simion, despite the fact that the latter is known for violent actions against Romania’s Hungarian minority.

This resulted for the first time in many years in a conflict between the party of the Hungarian minority of Romania, the UDMR, and Orban. Dan’s biggest victory in Romania on Sunday was in Harghita, which is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Hungarians. Some 90% voted for him.

Leaders congratulate Dan

Dan’s second-best result came in the Republic of Moldova, the “second Romanian state,” where many people also hold Romanian citizenship; around 88% of them voted for Dan.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who also holds Romanian citizenship, was one of the first foreign heads of state or government to congratulate Dan. “Romania, we walk together with confidence on the European path,” she posted on Facebook.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also among the first to congratulate Dan on his “historic victory.”

“By working together, we can strengthen both our countries and our Europe,” Zelenskyy posted on X.

Simion concedes defeat

George Simion is barred from entering both the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine because he questions the statehood of both countries and has called for the annexation of both Moldova and parts of Ukraine.

On Sunday evening, Simion declared himself the new president of Romania.

But at about 2 a.m. on Monday, he conceded defeat and congratulated Dan, indirectly signaling that he and his Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) were not planning to revolt over the election result.

Dan reaches out

Many observers emphasized, however, that the over 5 million Romanian citizens who voted for Simion — almost half of the electorate — cannot be ignored.

Ioan Stanomir, an expert on constitutional law, told Digi24 “This will be the start of a difficult time of governance, and bridges will have to be built to the people who voted for Simion.”

Nicusor Dan said something similar in his first interviews and in his speech shortly after midnight.

He said that he had “respect” for everyone who had not voted for him and wanted to enter into dialogue with them. “Romania will have a new president,” he said, “a president who will be in equilibrium with all other powers of state and who will continue to need you all.”