Partial local elections in Romania
17 candidates are running for the seat of mayor of Bucharest in the partial local elections on December 7.
Ştefan Stoica, 24.11.2025, 14:00
The current year was supposed to be the year of calming the political waters after the 2024 electoral marathon. However, the cancellation of the presidential election, due to foreign interference in favor of an extremist candidate, moved the battle for the most important position in the state to 2025. The pro-European independent Nicuşor Dan became president, and his departure from the Bucharest General City Hall, which he had won last year for a second consecutive term, forces the executive to organize elections for the capital Bucharest, so the 2024 electoral marathon has been extended this year as well. The elections for Bucharest will take place on December 7. The electoral campaign began on Saturday morning, November 22, and will also end on a Saturday, December 6. There were 18 aspirants at the start, but one of them dropped out, leaving 17.
In the local elections of June 2024, only nine candidates had entered the competition for the seat of general mayor, a sign that the appetite for the second most voted position in the Romanian state has increased significantly. Polls announce a battle between 3 or even 4 competitors. Three come from the main parties of the governing coalition. They are Daniel Băluţă, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the current mayor of sector 4, the liberal Ciprian Ciucu, the acting mayor of sector 6, and Save Romania Union (USR) deputy Cătălin Drulă, former leader of the party. They are joined by the journalist Anca Alexandrescu, an independent proposed by the electoral alliance ”Justice for Bucharest”, supported by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the populist, ultranationalist, declared sovereigntist opposition.
Also running are George Burcea (Young People’s Party, parliamentarian, self-proclaimed sovereigntist), Ana Maria Ciceală (Health Education Nature Sustainability – SENS party), Rareş Lazar (Romania in Action Party), Oana Creţu (United Social Democratic Party), Vlad Gheorghe (independent). Other candidates running for mayor of Bucharest are the former social-democratic finance minister Eugen Orlando Teodorovici (independent), Gheorghe Macovei (Greater Romania Party), Gheorghe Neţoiu (independent), Liviu Gheorghe Floarea (National Peasant Party Maniu Mihalache), Mihai Ioan Lasca (Romanian People’s Patriots Party), Angela Negrotă (independent), Dănuţ Angelo Trifu (independent), Constantin-Titian Filip (independent). Along with the elections in Bucharest, partial local elections are also taking place in several localities, among which Buzău County (southeast), where running for the County Council is also Marcel Ciolacu, former PSD leader and Prime Minister of Romania until the 2024 elections, an unsuccessful candidate in the presidential election of the same year, which were canceled anyway. (LS)
