Presidential Election in Romania
Romania is getting ready for the first round of its presidential election
Mihai Pelin, 02.05.2025, 14:00
Over 18 million Romanian voters are expected to the polls on May 4th to cast their ballot for the country’s president, who will be ruling the country for the next five years.
11 candidates, including four independents, are vying for the presidential seat. For the first time since the fall of communism in Romania, the Social-Democrats do not have their own candidate, relying instead on the former Liberal leader, Crin Antonescu, the joint candidate of the present ruling coalition, PSD-PNL-UDMR.
Another candidate in the presidential race is the former Social-Democratic Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, who runs as an independent. Also running in the presidential race are the president of the opposition USR, Elena Lasconi, and the mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, who runs as an independent.
The sovereignist parties, AUR and POT also have their own common candidate, the AUR leader, George Simion. 18,979 polling stations have been set up on Romania’s territory for the upcoming presidential election, says the Permanent Election Authority (AEP). 965 polling stations have been made available for eligible Romanian voters in the Diaspora, 15 more than in the presidential election last year. The largest number of sections are in Italy and Malta, 161, followed by Spain, 147, Great Britain, 108, France and the Principality of Monaco 69, the Republic of Moldova 64 and the USA 50.
29 polling stations have been relocated to more convenient areas for the upcoming elections, either after talks with representatives of certain Romanian communities or with a view to easing the voters’ access.
The Romanian ambassador to France, Ioana Bivolaru, has urged voters to check the list of the polling stations posted on the web pages of the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the embassy, the consulates and the social networks in order to choose the closest one.
Ioana Bivolaru: “The Diaspora votes in three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we recommend that people didn’t wait for the last day to cast their ballot, or went only to the traditional polling stations as they used to.”
In turn, the country’s general consul in Paris, Ecaterina Constantinescu, speaks about the documents that voters need to be able to cast their ballots.
Ecaterina Constantinescu: “At the polling stations in France, eligible Romanian voters can cast their ballot by means of any valid identity document, such as the identity card, passport, military ID cards. All Romanian citizens abroad, tourists included, can cast their ballot in the presidential election.”
Police Chief Superintendent Bogdan Despescu has recalled the presence of the OSCE observers, as a premiere in this election round, who came upon the request of the Romanian government. The AEP has also issued roughly 300 accreditations to press organizations, associations and foundations to observe the election in Romania. The second round of the presidential election in Romania has been slated for May 18.
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