Nicușor Dan elected new president of Romania amid interference claims

Bucharest’s incumbent mayor, Nicușor Dan, has won Romania’s presidential election, with nearly all votes counted.

Data from the country’s Central Election Commission indicated that as of 11:30 PM local time, Dan, founder of the Save Romania Union (USR) party, secured 54.33% of the vote.

This placed him ahead of George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party. Simion garnered 45.67%. The commission further announced that 97.59% of the cast votes had been counted, with a voter turnout of 65%.

In the initial round, Simion had obtained 40.96% of the vote, while Dan had trailed with 20.99%.

Despite numerous exit polls initially indicating different outcomes, Simion had declared himself president of Romania in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) social media account. Many users observed that the politician had posted the Chadian flag emoji instead of the Romanian one.

Dan centered his election campaign on combating corruption, proposing stricter penalties for abuse of office and advocating for judicial system reforms. His platform included the full digitalization of public services to reduce bureaucracy, tax reductions for small businesses, and measures to attract foreign investment.

In foreign policy, Dan supported deeper integration with the European Union (EU) and continued aid to Ukraine.

Several hours before the initial results were announced, Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated on his personal channel that a Western European government had contacted the messaging application concerning the Romanian elections. He included a baguette emoji in parentheses, widely recognized as a symbol of France.

Durov claimed the government in question requested Telegram to “silence conservative voices in Romania,” a request Durov stated he “categorically refused.”

Durov later added that the request originated from French intelligence services. Shortly thereafter, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a denial on its official X page, superimposing the word “fake” over a screenshot of Durov’s post.

However, allegations of electoral interference did not end there. Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Andrey Tsarnya alleged on his X account that Russia had “again” interfered in the nation’s elections.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Maria Zakharova retorted on her Telegram channel: “First of all, I request that this not be called an election. Secondly, it is impossible to interfere in such a thing; one can only become tainted by it. So, let them not defile anyone with their elections. Clean yourselves up!”

Context surrounding previous electoral events includes the first round of presidential elections held last November, where independent candidate Călin Georgescu had initially secured a leading 23% of the vote.

However, the nation’s Constitutional Court later nullified Georgescu’s results, citing allegations of foreign interference in the electoral process via TikTok. Georgescu’s opponents initially accused Russia (an allegation the Kremlin denied).

However, on December 21, the Snoop portal, citing unnamed sources, reported that Romania’s tax authority had determined Georgescu’s TikTok campaign was financed not by Russian entities, but by the pro-EU Romanian National Liberal Party. Nevertheless, the court upheld the decision, denying Georgescu the right to participate in subsequent elections.

In February 2025, the Romanian prosecutor’s office initiated legal proceedings against Georgescu, accusing him of perjury, incitement to overthrow the constitutional order, and “forming a fascist organization.”