Romania: Pro-Russian Simion claims victory in elections, but pro-European Dan actually wins
Nikushor Dan (Photo: BOGDAN CRISTEL / EPA)

Pro-Russian presidential candidate Gheorghe Simion has declared victory in the Romanian election. However, exit polls and preliminary results from the Central Election Commission suggest a victory for the pro-European candidate, Bucharest Mayor Nicosor Dan.

UPDATED at 11:59 p.m. 98.52% of the protocols have been processed – Dan wins with 54.17%, Simion has 45.83%. Final voting results will be announced later.

The pro-European candidate also supports Ukraine (more about the politicians here).

Meanwhile, a rally in support of this has already gathered in Bucharest:

Below you can read about the preliminary data, as well as about Russian interference in the elections and the "spy scandal" between the Telegram founder and France.

"I am the new president of Romania," Simion wrote on the social network X. In his post, he mistakenly used an emoji with the flag of the African country of Chad, which is similar to the Romanian one.

Meanwhile, Antena 3 CNN is publishing the results of exit polls from two sociological agencies, CURS and Avangarde.

According to the first, Dan has 54.1%, Simion – 45.9% as of 8:00 PM (the same time as in Ukraine).

Avangarde records approximately the same figures as of 7:00 p.m.: the pro-European candidate is leading with 54.9%, the pro-Russian one has 45.1%.

The Central Election Commission has not yet counted all the votes, but so far Simion is slightly ahead of Dan: 40.47% of the protocols have been processed, the pro-Russian politician has 50.14%, and the pro-European one has 49.86%.

51.30% of protocols have been processed – Dan comes out ahead with 50.45%, Simion drops to 49.55%.

In the first round, Simion won with 40.96% of the vote, Dan received 20.99%.

79.80% of the protocols have been processed, the gap between Dan and Simion is widening: the former has 52.63%, the latter has 47.37%.

96.36% processed – Dan leads with 54.35%, Simion has 45.65%.

And again there is Russian interference in the elections

Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Tarnea confirmed that the Kremlin interfered in the presidential election.

"During Romania’s ongoing presidential elections yet again we see the hallmarks of Russian interference. A viral campaign of fake news on Telegram & other social media platforms is aimed to influence the electoral process. This was expected & Romanian authorities debunked the fake news," the official said.

The founder of the Telegram messenger, Russian Pavel Durov, claimed that one of the European governments asked his app to "silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections." The entrepreneur claims that in response he "flatly refused."

Durov did not write directly, but hinted that France had contacted him – he is also a citizen of this country, where he was detained in 2024 in a case of his messenger being used for criminal activity.

However, the French Foreign Ministry denied Durov's statement and recalled how Russia interfered in the previous presidential elections in Romania, after which they even had to be canceled.

"In this context, the recent accusations against France are nothing more than a distraction tactic in the face of real threats of intervention directed against Romania. France calls on all Romanian political players to assume responsibility and defend democracy," the department said.

UPDATED. Durov claims that this spring, French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner allegedly asked him to "ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections."

"I refused. We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe," the businessman said. He did not provide any evidence.

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RomaniaelectionsNicusor DanGheorghe Simion