(Updated: )
Pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan won the Romanian presidential election on May 18, defeating the far-right, anti-Ukraine George Simion.
Dan won Sunday's runoff with 53.6% of the votes, while Simion earned 46.4%, according to Romania's election authority.
President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Dan on his victory: "For Ukraine—as a neighbor and friend—it is important to have a reliable partner in Romania. And we are confident that this will indeed be the case. By working together, we can strengthen both our countries and our shared Europe."
The result comes as a relief for Ukraine, who faced the loss of a key ally in the event of a Simion victory. Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), championed a Euroskeptic platform that included ending military aid for Ukraine.
"Ukraine needs us, we don't need Ukraine," Simion said during a televised debate on May 8. Simion is banned from entering both Ukraine and neighboring Molodova due to his anti-Ukrainian stance.
Dan, an independent centrist and the current mayor of Bucharest, supports aid to Ukraine, calling it "essential for the security of Romania."
Despite exit polls clearly predicting a victory for Dan, Simion declared himself the president of Romania in a post on social media.
Polls showed the two candidates neck-and-neck in the days leading up to the runoff election, with an AtlasIntel survey on May 13 placing both at 48.2%.
The current election follows the annulment of the first round in November 2024, which Romania's Constitutional Court invalidated due to evidence of foreign interference.
That round was won by populist Calin Georgescu, who openly promoted conspiracy theories and supported Russia, calling Ukraine a "fictional state" and predicting its partition as "inevitable."
Romania then held first-round elections on May 4, which Simion won with nearly 41% of the votes. His victory triggered the resignation of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
Romania has provided Ukraine with crucial defense and humanitarian suppor throughout Russia's full-scale war. The country donated a U.S.-made Patriot missile system in 2024 and signed a bilateral security agreement with Kyiv. Bucharest has also played a crucial role in the transit of Ukrainian agricultural exports amid Russia's threats to the Black Sea maritime trade.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
