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.  

After Georgescu's surprise win and with far-right parties gaining ground after the Parliamentary elections, held on December 1, a coalition made up of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and representatives of other ethnic minorities have started talks to form a pro-European Government and announced backing for "a possible sole presidential candidate."

President Klaus Iohannis, whose mandate was due to end on December 21, will remain in office until his successor is sworn in. He convened the newly-elected Parliament on December 20.  A new Government, to be validated by the Parliament, is to decide the date of the presidential elections. The president designates the PM and appoints the Government following the vote of confidence from the Parliament.

PNL president Ilie Bolojan, who took over the party's leadership after former leader and presidential candidate Nicolae Ciucă came out fifth in the first round of the presidential elections, said he was not interested in running for president.

Dan is not the first acting Bucharest mayor to announce a presidential bid. Traian Băsescu ran for president and won in 2004 against PSD's Adrian Năstase.

Dan won his two mandates as Bucharest mayor running as an independent, with support from the center-right parties.

He was first elected mayor of Bucharest in September 2020, having run as an independent supported by the center-right coalition made up of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union USR-PLUS Alliance. This year, he ran as an independent again, this time with the support of the United Right Alliance (ADU), consisting of USR, the People's Movement Party (PMP), and Forța Dreptei.

A mathematician who earned his Ph.D. at Université Paris XIII (Sorbonne Paris North University) and later went on to work as a researcher at the Romanian Academy's Simion Stoilow Mathematics Institute, Dan made a name for himself as a civic activist before running for public office. He founded in 2006 Asociația Salvați Bucureștiul (Save Bucharest Association), a non-profit working to preserve the city's architectural heritage and green areas from chaotic development. In 2015, he launched the political platform Uniunea Salvați Bucureștiul (Save Bucharest Union), the precursor of Save Romania Union (USR). He was a deputy in Romania's Parliament between 2016 and 2020.

(Photo: Cosmin Enache/ Inquam Photos)

simona@romania-insider.com