Romaniaʼs far-right presidential candidate to appeal election results after admitting defeat

The leader of the far-right AUR party, candidate for president of Romania George Simion has decided to appeal the results of the presidential election, where he lost. Before that, he had admitted his defeat.

“I am officially appealing to the Constitutional Court to cancel the presidential elections in Romania (May 2025),” Simion wrote on May 20, the day after the results were announced.

He says the reason is the same as the annulment of the election results last December — outside interference by both state and non-state “players”. Simion says there is solid evidence this time. He says neither France nor Moldova can interfere in another country’s elections.

Whatʼs going on?

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that a "Western European government" had allegedly asked his messenger to "silence conservative voices in Romania" ahead of the presidential election. He was presumably referring to the French government, hinting at this with a baguette emoji ("guess which one 🥖"). Durov wrote that he refused to limit the freedom of Romanian users and would not block their political channels.

France has rejected accusations by Telegram founder Durov of attempting to influence the Romanian election. The French Foreign Ministry recalled that the first round of the presidential election in Romania, which was held in December 2024, was annulled due to digital and financial interference by entities linked to Russia.

Durov also said that he was personally asked by the head of Franceʼs foreign intelligence service to influence the Romanian elections. They deny this.

“This spring, in the Salon des Batailles of the Hôtel de Crillon, the head of French intelligence (DGSE) Nicolas Lerner asked me to silence conservative voices in Romania on the eve of the elections. I refused,” he wrote on the social network X.

In a comment to Le Monde, DGSE representatives denied Durovʼs statements. They admitted that they "have indeed been forced to contact Durov repeatedly over the past few years".

However, they emphasized that it was solely to "strongly remind him and his company of their responsibility in preventing terrorist threats and the spread of child pornography".

What preceded

After the results of the second round of the presidential election were announced, George Simion admitted defeat and congratulated his opponent, the pro-European mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan, who won.

With 100% of the ballots counted, the pro-European candidate received 53.6%, while the far-right candidate George Simion received 46.4%. More than 6.1 million Romanians voted for Nicusor Dan, while around 5.3 million voted for Simion. The official results will be final once they are approved by Romaniaʼs Constitutional Court.

Meanwhile, even before 100% of the ballots were counted, George Simion declared that he had already won, but attributed it to Călin Georgescu. Călin Georgescu is a former pro-Russian candidate for president of Romania. Romaniaʼs Constitutional Court annulled the results of last yearʼs first round of presidential elections. Georgescu, like Simion, opposed military aid to Ukraine.

On social media, Simion also called himself president. However, in X, the politician declared himself the new president of Chad — mixing up the flags.

Since 2011, Simion has been banned from entering Ukraine — accused of meetings with Russian special services in Chernivtsi.

Presidential elections in Romania

The first round of the presidential election in Romania was held on November 24, 2024. Far-right politician Calin Georgescu and liberal pro-European candidate Elena Lasconi advanced to the second round. Lasconi beat the countryʼs incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu by just 2700 votes.

Georgescuʼs leadership was unexpected, and he was accused of influencing the election through TikTok. Because of this, the European Commission even asked the platform to provide information on how the social network has reduced the risk of inauthentic or automated use of its service, as well as to list the risks arising from its recommended content system.

Romanian intelligence has found that the TikTok account bogpr, used by Romanian citizen Bogdan Pescir, participated in financing Georgescuʼs campaign. He made payments totaling $381 000 between October 24 and November 24 to users of TikTok accounts that participated in Georgescuʼs promotion.

The Constitutional Court of Romania on December 6, 2024, annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election.

Călin Georgescu was arrested on February 26, 2025. He was charged with inciting anti-constitutional activity, spreading false information, creating a fascist organization, glorifying people accused of genocide and war crimes, and creating an anti-Semitic community. He was released after the charges were filed and is under judicial supervision.

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