Romanian Presidential Candidate from Ruling Coalition Suspends Campaign Amid Political Uncertainty

Romanian presidential candidate Crin Antonescu, who is supported by three parties of the government coalition, has announced the suspension of his election campaign, NewsMaker reports.

The politician said he was suspending the campaign because the date of the presidential election has not yet been set, and the coalition that nominated him has not yet reached a consensus on his candidacy. 

‘I'm not withdrawing my candidacy, I'm not backing down, I've taken on... all the difficulties and the whole path, and I'm ready to go all the way at any time,’ the politician said.

According to him, the four political leaders who nominated him did not have all the powers when they signed the agreement.

Antonescu also called on the authorities to set a date for the presidential election as soon as possible and explain what happened with the cancellation of the first round of voting.

As a reminder, Romania held presidential elections on 24 November. Out of 13 candidates, the most votes were won by a previously little-known far-right pro-Russian politician, Kelin Georgescu, whose political adverts were widely broadcast on Tik Tok. 

After a preliminary investigation into the ambiguous election results, on 6 December 2024, the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election. This came a few days after allegations that Russia had conducted a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right candidate who won the first round.

On 29 December, Romania announced the dates for the two rounds of the presidential election. According to the decision of the government coalition, the presidential election will be held on 23 March 2025 - the first round and 6 April 2025 - the second round.