Romania elections: Bucharest mayor to run for president in 2025

Nicușor Dan, who won a second mandate as the mayor of Bucharest this spring, will run for president as an independent in the 2025 elections, he announced on December 16.

Romania is set to hold presidential elections again next year, after the country's Constitutional Court (CCR) annulled, on December 6, the results of the first round of the presidential elections after declassified reports suggested foreign involvement aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process. The decision of the CCR came as voting in the second round had already started at polling stations in the diaspora and less than 48 hours before the start of the vote in the country. The second round would have seen ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, the surprise winner of the first round, face centrist Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Save Romania Union (USR), also backed by other pro-EU parties.

Dan said he is open to having talks with the pro-European parties to support his bid. "What we need is a president who makes sure that the reformist direction that the parties reference these days will be followed through in the governmental activity. I am convinced that the Romanian society will take advantage of this unexpected moment and find the resources to move forward and change what needs changing," Dan said.

A fundamental change is needed in the way the state responds to the needs of citizens, Dan said upon announcing his presidential bid. He pointed to three major problems, starting with corruption and how public institutions work. "Entire areas are captured by interest groups that act for the benefit of the group and not for the public interest. There will be a tough fight between those defending the public interest and those acting on their group interest," he said.

A second problem he identified is a lack of direction for the country. "Romania has, in both the public and private sectors, and in the diaspora, very important resources of competence that the state has not accessed until now. This is the role of the president, to identify these competencies, to organize them so that they can come up with the most appropriate public policies."

A third problem he pointed to is the social and cultural division. "It is the role of the president to reopen the dialogue between these [e.n. opposing] categories, state the values that unite us, that make the difference, and highlight the excesses that prevent dialogue and understanding," he said.

Bucharest residents cannot live well if Romania is not doing well, he said, referencing his recent win of a second mayor mandate and the validation of the referendum he initiated.

Dan's announcement concerning the presidential bid came as a coalition of NGOs proposed him as the candidate of the pro-EU parties in early December.