2024 Romanian presidential election

7 min read

Presidential elections were held in Romania on 24 November 2024. A second round was due to be held on 8 December 2024 as no candidate achieved an absolute majority in the first round; however, the Constitutional Court annulled the election on 6 December 2024, alleging that a Russian influence operation had impacted the vote. This was the ninth presidential election held in post-revolution Romania.

The result of the first round was a surprise, with independent nationalist candidate Călin Georgescu achieving a relative majority of votes, while the center-right politician Elena Lasconi finished second and also advanced to the runoff vote. Initially viewed as a minor candidate with little chance of victory, Georgescu quickly gained significant support through campaigning on non-traditional media outlets such as TikTok, receiving particular popularity among those disaffected with current Romanian politics, including youth, farmers, rural voters, and members of the working class. He was considered the front-runner in the race, and polling conducted after the first round of voting found him to be the most popular figure in the country's politics.

Leading issues included corruption, LGBTQ rights, the role of Christianity in public life, and the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Georgescu, who has run on a nationalist platform, has criticised the National Coalition for Romania, a grand coalition of Romania's two largest parties, as corrupt. He has favoured increasing the role of Christianity in public life, promised to outlaw "LGBT propaganda", put forward plans towards partly nationalising important industries, and promoted neutrality and national sovereignty, as well as non-interventionism towards the Ukrainian War, without exiting NATO or the European Union. Lasconi supports secularism, further European integration, alignment with the United States and the West, and increasing military funding towards Ukraine.

Georgescu's campaign has been endorsed by an assortment of Christian democratic, nationalist and agrarian political parties, including the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, S.O.S. Romania, Party of Young People, Romanian Socialist Party and the National Peasants' Party. Lasconi's campaign has been endorsed by the National Liberal Party, Democracy and Solidarity Party, Save Romania Union, and Renewing Romania's European Project, among several other parties. This was the first time since 2000 that a nationalist candidate made it into the second round instead of either the National Liberals or the now defunct Democratic Liberal Party. It was also the first time in the post-Communist period that the Social Democrats failed to reach the run-off.

The aftermath of the first presidential vote was controversial and led Romania to the brink of a political crisis. President Iohannis, who chairs the country's Supreme Council of Defence, accused Georgescu's campaign of being supported by Russia. Following vote rigging allegations made by a minor candidate, the Constitutional Court of Romania ordered a recount, but ultimately decided to confirm the results of the first round on 2 December. On 6 December, the Constitutional Court reversed their decision and controversially annulled the first round of the election, after intelligence documents were declassified stating that Russia had run a coordinated online campaign to promote Georgescu.

On 20 December, an investigation was published contending that the National Liberal Party, one of the governing parties, had paid for the TikTok campaigns that the Supreme Council of National Defence said were "identical" to the online campaign launched by Russia before the invasion of Ukraine and which led to the cancellation of the first round.

Background

Following consultations with various parliamentary groups, the government of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on 4 July 2024 that presidential elections would take place later that year on 24 November for a first round and 8 December for a second round. It also set parliamentary elections for 1 December. Prior to this, there was a speculation according to which the forthcoming Romanian presidential elections might have occurred earlier than to term, in the event that incumbent President Klaus Iohannis would have been nominated as Secretary General of NATO and that he would have accepted the nomination in the meantime, then the election would have likely been called earlier than planned. This ultimately did not come to pass, as Dutch former Prime Minister Mark Rutte was chosen to succeed the incumbent Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Candidates

National Liberal Party (PNL)

President Klaus Iohannis was not eligible for another candidacy, therefore the party sought another suitable candidate. Former Prime Minister and former PNL president Ludovic Orban stated in Tecuci, Galați County, on 22 May 2021, that he did not "rule out" a candidacy in 2024. On 25 June 2021, then-Prime Minister Florin Cîțu stated in Piatra Neamț that he is "currently not considering" a presidential candidacy. Furthermore, fellow party leaders considered proposing Iohannis as Prime Minister after he ceases to be president. On 15 September 2024, Nicolae Ciucă, who was Prime Minister from 2021 to 2023, was formally designated as the PNL candidate for the presidency of Romania.

Social Democratic Party (PSD)

In a televised talk show on 24 April 2021, the party leader Marcel Ciolacu stated that it would be "very likely" that the party president (himself, at that time) would not run for president in 2024. Asked about considering a presidential candidacy, member of the Chamber of Deputies, Alexandru Rafila vaguely answered on 4 July 2021 "never say never" but underlined that running for president is "definitely not my goal". In another televised talk show, former Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu stated that the party is "going for the win" in all elections scheduled for 2024 (legislative, local, European Parliament, and presidential), and he "did not rule out" that Mircea Geoană could be again the party's presidential candidate. Geoană ran for president in 2009 but narrowly lost in the second round to Traian Băsescu, who was then re-elected for a second and final term. Speculations were proven clear that Geoană was running for the presidency in 2024 but did not receive PSD support as it was initially believed according to incumbent PSD president Marcel Ciolacu. On 26 August 2024, at the two-day PSD Congress, Ciolacu was officially designated as the party's presidential candidate.

Save Romania Union (USR)

Former 2019 candidate and party co-president Dan Barna stated in several interviews in April 2021 that his candidacy was "not ruled out" and a "real scenario". Party co-president Dacian Cioloș stated in an interview on 18 February 2021 that he was also considering a potential candidacy. On 1 October 2021, Cioloș stated that his objective was to win the 2024 presidential election. On 26 June 2024, at the two-day USR Congress, Elena Lasconi, the newly elected party president, was officially designated as the party's presidential candidate.

People's Movement Party (PMP)

Cristian Diaconescu, then newly elected president of the party in early 2021, was designated the party's presidential candidate; however, some analysts believed that Mihail Neamțu, a current member of the PMP, might run instead, either as an independent (with PMP support) or as a candidate from another party. On 23 March 2022, Cristian Diaconescu was excluded from the party by the new leadership, thus losing his presidential candidate status previously granted by the PMP. Diaconescu subsequently filed to run as an independent candidate.

Force of the Right (FD)

On 28 June 2022, former Prime Minister, former PNL president, and current Force of the Right (FD) leader Ludovic Orban announced that he would run for president in 2024, also stating that he doesn't want to support any other candidate, being tremendously disappointed by the incumbent Klaus Iohannis. Orban was the second former PNL president to run for the Romanian presidency supported by a breakaway faction of the PNL after Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (Prime Minister between 2004 and 2008) who ran on behalf of the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR; one of the predecessors of the Romanian ALDE founded in 2015 through a merger with the Conservative Party (PC) and subsequently absorbed by the PNL in March 2022) in 2014, during that year's presidential election. On 18 November 2024, during a live TV debate, Ludovic Orban announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement to Elena Lasconi, the USR candidate. His late withdrawal kept his name on the ballot and any vote received would still be counted as his. Technically, he continued campaigning but delivered messages of endorsement for Lasconi.