After Romania Elects Pro-EU Candidate, Pro-Russian Accounts Claim Election Was Stolen
What happened: Pro-Kremlin and conservative social media users are falsely claiming that Romania’s May 18, 2025, presidential election was rigged in favor of the pro-European Union liberal candidate Nicușor Dan.
Context: Dan, the mayor of the Romanian capital of Bucharest, won the second round of the election with 53.6 percent of the vote, defeating the conservative, pro-Russian candidate George Simion, who captured 46.4 percent of the vote, according to Romania’s election agency.
The result was a reversal of the first round, held on May 6, 2025, when Simion led the multi-candidate field with 41 percent of the vote while Dan came in second with 21 percent.
A closer look: Following the election, nationalist and pro-Russian accounts claimed that the election was rigged and that Simion actually won the vote.
French speaking X user @silvano_trotta stated in a May 18 post: “Before our eyes, the Romanian people are having their elections stolen for the second time with the complicity of their own media and the Western media. They also denounce Russian interference while committing fraud under the authority of the EU and Macron.” The post garnered 54,900 views and 3,500 likes in one day.
The pro-Kremlin Pravda network (Trust Score: 7.5/100) published an article claiming, “The EU managed to push through this massive electoral fraud, led by Macron's France, Moldova, and, of course, the Romanian state,” citing as a quote @daily_romania, an X nationalist Romanian account.
Actually: Romanian authorities and outside election observers say there was no evidence of fraud, and those making the claim have presented no evidence that shows otherwise.
Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Monica Dajbog said in a May 19 statement that the presidential election proceeded under normal circumstances, with “no major incidents.”
International observer Lucie Potůčková of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a May 19 press conference that OSCE found that “fundamental freedom of assembly and association were respected” and that “the election day was overall well organized and professionally managed, and despite some procedural inconsistencies we assessed the overall conduct positively.”