Romania: High Participation in the Presidential Elections Runoff

Two Romanian women cast their ballots in the second round of presidential elections at a polling station in Bucharest, Romania. Photo: EFE/EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

May 18, 2025 Hour: 12:42 pm

Participation in the second round of the Romanian presidential elections exceeded the 53.21% turnout of the first round by 5:25 PM local time (2:25 PM GMT). At that time in the first round, there were still three and a half hours left to vote, until 9:00 PM (6:00 PM GMT).

By 5:25 PM, 9.24 million Romanians had already voted, about two million more than those counted at the same time two weeks ago, according to official participation data released by the Hotnews portal.

Elections in Romania are taking place against a background of institutional crisis and could determine the direction of the country’s foreign policy and its role in the EU and NATO. Polling stations close at 21:00 local time, when the first polls will be published and preliminary results are expected from midnight.

🇷🇴#Romania: It's election day in Romania!

Romanians are called to elect their President for a five-year term.

Polls show a tight race between far-right leader George Simion (AUR) and Mayor of Bucarest Dan (USR). pic.twitter.com/3x0eJii97W
— World Elects (@ElectsWorld) May 18, 2025

In the initial round, George Simion of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) won with almost 41% of the vote, while independent candidate Nicusor Dan came second with about 21%.

Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician who is the mayor of Bucharest and is running as an independent, has closed the gap in recent weeks and has the support of the urban, liberal, and pro-European vote.

Simion, 38, has focused his campaign on rejecting the traditional political system with a nationalist, identity-based, and traditionalist message inspired by Donald Trump, with slogans like “Romania First.”

Since Friday, Simion’s party, AUR, has launched accusations of electoral fraud in the overseas vote and redoubled those accusations this Sunday on election day in Romania.

The AUR party reported alleged cases of vote buying, irregular transport of voters and manipulation of ballots in elections, directly accusing its rival. They demanded the intervention of the electoral authorities and the police, but without presenting concrete evidence.

For its part, the Ministry of the Interior reported that the election day passed without significant incidents.