Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan received 20.65% of the votes in the first round of the Romanian presidential elections, thus overtaking the ruling coalition's candidate Crin Antonescu in the race for second place in the first round, according to the country's Central Electoral Bureau data after counting 97.57% of the votes.
The electoral watchdog's data after counting 97.57% of the votes show that the leader of the opposition nationalist party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, has 40.14% of the votes, while Dan has 20.65% of the votes, just 0.01% ahead of Antonescu, but the gap may increase.
The second round will be held on May 18.
The presidential election in Romania took place following the cancellation of the initial voting results by the Romanian Constitutional Court last year. The first round took place on November 24, 2024. Independent candidate Calin Georgescu and pro-Western politician Elena Lasconi advanced to the second round, but the Constitutional Court annulled the results, alleging that a Russian influence operation had impacted the vote. Moscow has denied the allegations of interference in the Romanian election. In March, Georgescu was barred from running in the repeat election.