BUCHAREST, May 19. /TASS/. Independent pro-European candidate and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan received 54.17% of the vote in the second round of Romania's presidential election, while his rival, the leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians George Simion, got 45.83%, the Permanent Electoral Authority reported after 98.56% of ballots were counted.
Romanian media outlets have declared Dan the winner, as 850,000 votes remain to be counted, and the current margin between the candidates is 898,000 votes.
Several thousand of his supporters gathered outside Dan's election headquarters, chanting "Nicusor!" "Europe!" "Romania!". The future president of Romania is expected to speak on the election results soon.
This presidential election is a repeat election. Romania's Constitutional Court interrupted the scheduled election late last year after nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu won the most votes in the first round on November 24, 2024. The court acted under the pretext of illegal financing of Georgescu's campaign, hacking attacks on the digital infrastructure used in the electoral process, and alleged but unproven Russian interference.
This unprecedented move caused an uproar in Romania and abroad, but the government took note of the Constitutional Court’s decision and scheduled the repeat elections for May 4 and 18, 2025.