BUCHAREST, May 19. /TASS/. Independent pro-European candidate and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan received 53.93% of the votes after 99.4% of the ballots were counted, while his rival, the leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians George Simion, got 46.07%, the Permanent Electoral Authority reported.
Thus, Nicusor Dan became the fifth president of Romania after the fall of the totalitarian Ceausescu regime in 1989. Even before the results were fully summarized, the media announced him as the "mathematical" winner of the second round of the presidential election because he had received the necessary 50+1% of the vote after 92.4% of the votes had been counted.
Dan won a convincing victory among Romanians who voted in Romania, but lost to Simion among those who voted abroad. After counting 82% of ballots from the Romanian diaspora, Simion received 55.12% of the votes, while Dan got 44.88%.
Meanwhile, Dan won among Romanians in Russia and China, according to stiripesurse.ro. In Russia, where two polling stations were opened — in Moscow and Saint Petersburg — Dan received 58.65% of the votes, while Simion garnered 41.35%. The news outlet points out that only 115 Romanians voted in Russia. In China, Dan won 84.23% of the vote, while Simion won 15.77%. Dan also won the election among Romanians in Kazakhstan, Iran, India, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan.
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians recognized Nicusor Dan's election victory. "I would like to congratulate my opponent Nicusor Dan, he won the election," party leader George Simion said in a video posted on his Facebook (a social media site banned in Russia since it is owned by Meta corporation deemed extremist by the Russian authorities). "This was the will of the Romanian people. I want to thank all the more than five million Romanians who put their trust in me," he emphasized. Earlier reports indicated that Simion had called for mass protests against the alleged vote rigging.
Dan has already received congratulations from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and Vladimir Zelensky.