Conservative George Simion came first in the initial round of voting before losing to Nicusor Dan in the runoff on May 18.
The runner-up in Romania’s presidential election rerun revealed on Tuesday he has asked the nation’s top court to annul the election results over alleged foreign interference and coordinated manipulation, which he said affected the vote.
George Simion, leader of the conservative Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), had initially conceded defeat in the runoff against the mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan.
Pro-European Union Dan took 53.6 percent of the vote to eurosceptic Simion’s 47.4 percent, and won by a margin of more than 829,000 votes.
However, Simion has since said he has filed a request with Romania’s Constitutional Court to annul the vote, claiming he had evidence that France, Moldova, and “other actors” had meddled in the election.
As yet, he has presented no evidence of these allegations publicly.
The 38-year-old said in a post on X in English: “I officially ask Constitutional Court to annul Romanian presidential elections.
🚨🇷🇴 I officially ask Constitutional Court TO ANNUL Romanian presidential elections (May 2025).
— 🇷🇴 George Simion 🇲🇩 (@georgesimion) May 20, 2025
For the very reasons December elections were annulled: EXTERNAL INTERFERENCES by state and non-state actors.
This time proven with evidence! Neither 🇫🇷, nor 🇲🇩, nor anyone else has…
“For the very reasons December elections were annulled: external interferences by state and non-state actors.
“Neither [France], nor [Moldova], nor anyone else has the right to interfere in the elections of another state.”
Sunday’s election was held months after the previous election, in which conservative outsider Calin Georgescu won the first round, was voided by the courts following allegations of electoral fraud and Russian interference.
Moscow denied meddling in Romania’s politics.
Simion used the furor over the annulment of that election to build support and, after finishing in fourth place in last year’s nixed ballot, threw his support behind Georgescu.
Georgescu was prohibited in March from taking part in this year’s presidential rerun election.
In the first round of the new ballot on May 4, Simion won a landslide, coming first out of 11 candidates, with Dan finishing in second to clinch his place in the runoff.
On Tuesday, he said he will ask the court to cancel the May rerun on the same grounds as the court axed last year’s vote.
Hours after voting opened on Friday for Romanians living outside the country, Simion accused the government in neighboring Moldova of committing electoral fraud, something both Moldovan and Romanian officials have denied.
He also told The Associated Press on Sunday that people were being illegally transported to voting stations in Moldova, affecting 80,000 votes, according to his allegations.
By Guy Birchal
