Ciprian Ciucu, the new general mayor of the Capital

Ciprian Ciucu, the PNL candidate, the head mayor of Sector 6, won the partial local elections for the position of general mayor of the Capital, although opinion polls in the week preceding yesterday's election did not credit him as the main favorite, with Daniel Băluţă, the PSD candidate, and Anca Alexandrescu, supported by AUR, alternating in first place.

While Ciprian Ciucu obtained 36% of the votes cast by 32.71% of Bucharest residents with the right to vote who showed up to the polls, Anca Alexandrescu received 22.04%, Daniel Băluţă was voted for by 20.59%, and Cătălin Drulă counted only 13.87%. We note that the results are after counting 98% of the valid votes cast in the 1289 polling stations in the Capital.

This result of the sovereignist candidate shows that the nationalist movement has reached its limit and cannot exceed it, because it has nowhere to gather more votes. As for the sovereignist movement, the percentage obtained by the POT candidate, George Burcea, is embarrassing, somewhere around 1%, well below the percentage with which the party founded by Anamaria Gavrilă managed to enter Parliament in last year's general elections.

Anca Alexandrescu's defeat represents a new setback for George Simion, the third setback in just one year. The first was recorded on November 24, 2024 when he failed to reach the second round of the presidential elections later annulled by the Constitutional Court, the second setback was when, despite having 20 percent in front of Nicuşor Dan, he lost the second round of the presidential elections in May 2025, and now he has also lost the elections for the Capital City Hall, following the defeat suffered by Anca Alexandrescu, a candidate supported by AUR.

However, do not expect George Simion to resign from the position of president of AUR or to be removed by his party colleagues. This will not happen because Simion made sure that, on December 1, 2025, he would receive a new mandate from his colleagues as president of AUR. Even if he later recorded another electoral failure, at the Capital City Hall.

The above data were close to those of the exit polls conducted in the Capital by the five public opinion polling institutes accredited by the Municipal Electoral Bureau for this election: CURS (Centre for Urban and Regional Sociology), Avangarde (Avangarde Group of Socio-Behavioral Studies), CIRA (The Center for International Research and Analyses), IIC Bio-Trade Consulting and ARA Public Opinion.

According to the exit polls presented at 9 p.m. (for votes cast until 7:30 p.m.), the situation was as follows. The joint survey conducted by CURS and Avangarde showed that Ciprian Ciucu won the partial elections for the Capital City Hall with 32.7%, followed by Daniel Băluţă - 26.3%, Anca Alexandrescu- 20.2%, Cătălin Drulă - 12.8% and Ana Ciceală - 6%.

In the survey conducted by INSCOP, Ciprian Ciucu was in first place with 31.7%, followed by Daniel Băluţă with 26.1%, Anca Alexandrescu in third place with 21.1% and Cătălin Drulă in fourth place with 12.8%.

Immediately after the exit polls were presented, Ciprian Ciucu said that yesterday's vote makes him responsible and knows that "it is a 30% vote, which does not give you enough legitimacy and authority". Daniel Băluţă thanked the Bucharest residents who came out to vote, said that the exit poll was inconclusive and is awaiting the results of the vote count from all polling stations in Bucharest. Anca Alexandrescu announced that regardless of the final result of the vote count, she will do what she promised - justice in Bucharest - and will continue what she has done so far. Cătălin Drulă stated that USR will be a partner in good projects for the city and urged Ciprian Ciucu "to have courage for reforms, because the city needs both skill and courage".

• What did the main candidates vote for?

The front-runners - Daniel Băluţă (supported by PSD), Ciprian Ciucu (PNL), Cătălin Drulă (USR) and Anca Alexandrescu (from the sovereignist camp) - voted since the early hours of the morning and sent messages almost identical in form, but profoundly different in subtext: each spoke of "a Bucharest in which to live", of "projects and development, not sterile quarrels", of "a modern, European city", trying to mobilize their own electorate and convey the feeling of the inevitability of their own victory.

After exercising his right to vote, the social-democratic candidate Daniel Băluţă said: "All that needs to happen in this city, dominated until today by quarrel, scandal and chaos - things that need to stop - is that, starting tomorrow, we start building a city the way we want it".

While the candidate supported by AUR, Anca Alexandrescu, said she wanted a city where people could live and that would allow its residents to have a decent life, the Liberal candidate Ciprian Ciucu expressed his regret that the mayoral elections are still being held in a single round. Mr. Ciucu said upon leaving the polling station: "I voted for projects, for a developed Bucharest, not for a sterile center, for integrity, with a peaceful heart for this campaign. (...) Unfortunately, there is only one round. From now on, I will be the one who will promote elections in two rounds the most”.

In contrast, Cătălin Drulă, the USR candidate, said: "I voted with confidence and optimism for a new beginning for our city, for honesty, to keep any nefarious influence away from the City Hall of the Capital. (...) Starting tomorrow, let's start building on solid foundations and solving the problems that have been dragging on for too long”.

After exercising their right to vote, the candidates for the position of general mayor of the Capital moved through the Bucharest neighborhoods, to the polling stations, and some of them chose to go to lunch, with their families, in a restaurant.

In the early hours of the morning, President Nicuşor Dan also showed up to vote, as did the country's former president, Traian Băsescu. Nicuşor Dan stated that he voted "for a Romania in the West, for these values that I believe define us and because it is a city that I have known for a very long time and for which I have campaigned” and added that, in light of his personal knowledge of the temptations at the level of the Capital City Hall, "I voted for someone who I am sure does not come close to the area of corruption and the real estate mafia that is extremely tempting at the Capital City Hall”. He also said that the partial elections of yesterday for the position of general mayor are symbolic, "which give a direction to national policy but no more than that” and that the current governing coalition "has no reason not to function because of this”.

In turn, former president Traian Băsescu said: "Of course, these elections will not solve things. The excessive debt remains, the measures that must be taken are unpopular with the population. We also have formidable propaganda. We do not hold those who have done their duty accountable, but those who are trying to solve things. (...) We are in a division at times when we should be in solidarity. Look at the USA, they have little left and they declare their best ally Russia. We are on a path that does not give us certainties. I came to vote worried”.

As for the winner of the Bucharest by-elections, he faces a difficult period of almost three years, in which he must quickly deliver to the citizens at least part of what he promised to do during his term as mayor-general.