Right -wing populist Simion on victory course: tension before the runoff in Romania!

Right -wing populist Simion on victory course: tension before the runoff in Romania!

Rumänien - In Romania, right -wing populist candidate George Simion won the first round of the repeated presidential election on May 4, 2025. The 37-year-old, who leads the Aur party, achieved around 40 percent of the vote, but was not able to achieve an absolute majority. The runoff election is scheduled for May 18, 2025. Nicușor Dan, the non-party mayor of Bucharest, ended up in second place with 20.91 percent, followed by Crin Antonescu, the candidate of the bourgeois-social democratic government, who came to 20.30 percent.

The distance between Antonescu and Dan is about 56,000 votes. In an election that is characterized by an increasingly polarized political climate, the right -wing extremist predecessor of Simion, Călin Georgescu, was no longer an obstacle due to irregularities in campaign financing after the constitutional court had annuled its candidacy in the previous election. Georgescu has been investigated by the public prosecutor since the end of February 2025, whereby the court has noticed that he does not recognize basic democratic values. He had seen the future of Romania in the "wisdom of Russia" and questioned the Russian attack war against Ukraine.

political background and electoral context

The outcome of this choice has far -reaching geopolitical implications. Romania that borders on Ukraine is particularly observed in the middle of the Russian military attack. Simion, who clearly distinguishes himself from Western political norms, has emphasized a connection to a Kremlin-friendly politician and is EU-skeptical and Russia-friendly. In his election campaign, he turned against the LGBTQ+rights and portrayed as a representative of traditional values. This attitude in a fragmented pro-European camp in which candidates such as Elena Lasconi and Victor Ponta represent similar political content, possibly contributed to the fact that he was able to cut so much in the first ballot.

The repeated election was necessary after the first round of the election in November 2024 was invalid by the constitutional court due to alleged foreign influence, which was to be attributed to Russian networks. However, the accusations remained without tangible evidence. The election process itself was criticized as non -transparent and crossed by law violations.

A victory in Simion in the upcoming runoff election could seriously endanger European unity and the defense of liberal-democratic values ​​in the region could seriously endanger. The entire election process is therefore not only considered a national decision, but also as a choice of direction with considerable consequences for the EU and NATO. The community will eagerly observe how the result will be and what effects it could have on the political landscape in Romania and the further European region.

For more information on the current developments in the Romanian presidential election, please visit Südkurier or and ZDF .