Two anti-system candidates

Both George Simion and Nicuşor Dan are perceived as two anti-system candidates, both criticizing the current political class and the corruption existing at the government level and in other state institutions.

• Who is George Simion?

George Simion entered big politics in the 2019 European Parliament elections, where he obtained only 1.21% of the votes and failed to reach the European Parliament. Later, together with Claudiu Târziu and former military personnel from the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Interior and the SRI, he founded the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), a party that surprised the Romanian political scene in the 2020 parliamentary elections, managing to enter Parliament with a nationalist, conservative and anti-restrictions message during the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2022, he became the sole president of the party. AUR capitalized on the social frustrations generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and became an important actor in the opposition to health restrictions, making intensive use of social networks and organizing visible protests.

Controversies were not absent from his political career. He was involved in verbal and physical altercations in Parliament, most notably with Virgil Popescu, former Minister of Energy, whom he called a "thief". He had a vulgar exchange of remarks with Senator Diana Şoşoacă, was taken to the station for alleged driving without a license, admitted in a podcast that he had committed tax evasion and was accused of involvement in forging signatures for the 2024 European Parliament and local elections. AUR, under his leadership, even published a "black list" of inconvenient journalists.

We note that George Simion is banned from entering the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, being considered an agent of Russian influence and accused of having attempted to undermine the constitutional order. Simion built his speech on an anti-European rhetoric, pigmented with conspiratorial accents and Russian manipulations related to the invasion of Ukraine. He took over Georgescu's legacy, promising, without conviction, that he would somehow bring him back to the forefront, although it is obvious that the relationship between the two is rather a tense one, fueled by envy and competition.

Far from the profile of a visionary leader, George Simion is trying to copy in our country the model of the Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban and the American President Donald Trump. The AUR leader stands out through aggressive live broadcasts on social networks, where he condemns the system he is part of, fuels fears related to the "Brussels dictatorship", the "global occult", "killing vaccines", the "LGBTQ dictatorship" and other favorite themes of contemporary extremism. More seriously, the AUR leader is accused of having illegally collected and used people's personal data for his own campaign and that he has no problem accepting PSD and PNL members into the party, and even making local alliances with them. We show that from 2020 until today, AUR has not supported any real initiative to reform the justice system and has not proposed changes to correct the laws destroyed by the PSD and PNL between 2017 and 2020. Although it criticizes the system, it coexists perfectly with it.

In June 2024, Simion announced his candidacy in the presidential elections, after previously claiming that he would not participate. The context of the elections was tense: the first round, held in November 2024, was annulled by the Constitutional Court, and the candidacy of Călin Georgescu - the initial leader in the polls - was invalidated. In these conditions, Simion entered the race for the 2025 presidential elections, also supported by the Young People's Party (POT).

In the first round on May 4, 2025, George Simion obtained 3,862,761 votes (40.96%), ranking first, with majority support in 36 regions of the country. In the diaspora, he dominated the vote in 22 regions, with impressive scores in countries such as Germany (74.31%), Italy (73.66%), Spain (73.61%) and Austria (68.76%). In contrast, his opponent, Nicuşor Dan, performed better in the USA, Canada, Australia and other non-European regions. Simion's personal life also attracted public attention. In 2022, he married Ilinca Munteanu, a law graduate , in a traditional ceremony organized in Vâlcea and open to the general public. In April 2024, the two became parents of a baby boy, Radu, the baptism being broadcast live on Facebook.

From a political point of view, the "Simion Plan" for the presidency includes 200 ambitious points: reducing the number of parliamentarians to 300, restructuring the government to 12 ministries and a maximum of 50 state secretaries, establishing a sovereign investment fund (ed. - we mention that the Investment and Development Bank is currently operational, with fully state capital, created through the PNRR), cutting social benefits for people able to work, reducing labor taxation, providing housing at prices of 35,000 euros (ed. - in the campaign for the second round he stated that this point was more of an electoral, political marketing, than a real promise) and refinancing loans with zero interest.

Regarding his wealth, George Simion declared that he does not own land, real estate or cars, according to his wealth declaration. In 2023, he earned 137,000 lei from his deputy allowance, and his wife earned 8,250 lei as a teacher. According to the presidential candidate's wealth declaration, he lives in a 44.66 square meter apartment, owned by his wife Ilinca, but recently information has emerged, confirmed by George Simion, showing that he actually lives in a 238 square meter building built on two levels.

George Simion graduated from the "Gheorghe Lazăr" National College in Bucharest in 2005 and the Faculty of Administration and Business of the University of Bucharest in 2008. He later completed a master's program at the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University in Iaşi in 2010, with a research on "The Crimes of Communism".

• Who is Nicuşor Dan?

Nicuşor Dan, the current mayor of the capital, serving his second term, took the political scene by surprise on December 16, 2024, when he announced that he would run as an independent in the 2025 presidential elections. His decision was motivated by the conviction that "Bucharest residents cannot live well in Bucharest if Romania is not doing well".

Nicuşor Dan has demonstrated at the level of the General City Hall of the Capital that he can stop a budgetary hemorrhage and that he can increase the level of confidence of Romanian and foreign investors in the central public administration of the municipality of Bucharest.

This is proven by the "A" credit rating with a medium risk profile granted by the Fitch agency at the end of 2024 to the municipality of Bucharest, a rating that is three times higher than Romania's rating, which demonstrates responsible management of resources by the current independent candidate in the presidential elections. Moreover, the credit rating received by the municipality of Bucharest under the Nicuşor Dan administration is more than three times higher than the one left by the Firea (PSD) administration, which was at BBB- with a negative outlook, according to data from the Fitch rating agency.

Nicuşor Dan's public rise has deep roots in his remarkable academic performance and intense civic involvement. Originally from Făgăraş, a graduate of the "Radu Negru" High School, he stood out from his adolescence, winning First Prize at the International Mathematics Olympiad in 1987 and 1988. After graduating from the Faculty of Mathematics in Bucharest, he pursued advanced studies in France, obtaining a master's degree at the University of Paris 11 and a doctorate at the University of Paris 13. For 18 years, he was a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy.

His involvement in civil society began in the 2000s, with the establishment of the Bucharest Normal School and the Youth for Civic Action Association. He consolidated his public notoriety in 2008, with the founding of the Save Bucharest Association, an NGO that became an important force in the fight to protect the heritage and green spaces of the Capital. He was recognized as a fighter against real estate developers, a defender of heritage houses, the urban development of the Capital and the expansion of green spaces. His activism has concretely influenced the legislation on urban planning. In 2015, he entered politics by founding the USR, a party that he left in 2017 following ideological differences. In 2016, he was elected deputy, and in 2020 he won the Capital City Mayorship as an independent supported by a right-wing alliance. Reales in 2024 with over 46% of the vote, continued to adopt a technocratic administrative style, focused on concrete solutions and avoiding political confrontations. A defining moment of the second mandate was the organization of a referendum for the urban and financial reorganization of Bucharest, the result of which was not legislatively transposed by the governing PNL-PSD coalition.

For the 2025 presidential elections, Nicuşor Dan is running with the slogan "Honest Romania", promoting a pro-European, pro-NATO and pro-transparency platform. In the context of an administration perceived as corrupt and inefficient, Nicuşor Dan expresses his determination to deeply reform the Romanian state, emphasizing the involvement of specialists from the private sector and civil society to restore the functionality of public institutions.

A central pillar of this vision is the fight against systemic corruption. Nicuşor Dan emphasizes the need for a change of perspective within the Prosecutor's Offices, which would systematically target large areas of corruption. He also proposes reforming the Constitutional Court, so that judges would be appointed exclusively from among experienced magistrates, thus ensuring fair and competent justice.

Regarding the electoral system, Dan advocates for the election of mayors in two rounds of voting, reducing the number of signatures required for candidacies, and increasing the representation of the diaspora in Parliament. These measures aim to increase transparency and citizen participation in the democratic process.

Administrative-territorial reform is another essential aspect of his program, aiming at the merger of communes with low populations and administrative reorganization according to economic growth poles , to streamline public services and stimulate regional development.

Internationally, Dan reaffirms his commitment to Romania's European and Atlantic direction, considering integration into the European Union and NATO as fundamental for national security and prosperity. He firmly rejects nationalization and isolationist tendencies, advocating for an open Romania connected to Western values.

The current mayor of the capital and independent candidate in the presidential elections declares himself an Orthodox Christian, but criticizes excessive partnerships between politics and the Church. On sensitive social issues, such as LGBT rights or civil partnership, he adopts a balanced position, arguing that society is the one who must decide, not the political class.

Regarding national security, Nicuşor Dan spoke about the need to reform the intelligence services, which he considers responsible for systemic failures, especially in the context of organizing the 2024 elections. The foreign policy he proposes includes firm support for Ukraine and strengthening national defense.

On a personal level, Nicuşor Dan leads a modest life from a financial point of view. He owns a plot of land in Predeal, does not own apartments or houses and his income comes mainly from the mayoral allowance, and his electoral campaigns were supported mainly by private donations and funds reimbursed by the state.

However, his candidacy was not without controversy. The presence alongside him, at the time of the official launch of the candidacy, of Daniel Ene - a retired SRI colonel - fueled suspicions regarding a possible closeness to the intelligence structures. Moreover, his relationship with businessman Matei Păun, a financial consultant with connections in the ex-Soviet space and pro-Putin posts in the past, was intensely commented on. Nicuşor Dan admitted that he had occasionally consulted him in the past and stated that neither Matei Păun nor Daniel Ene would receive any position at the Cotroceni Palace if he were elected president of the country.