Presidential elections 2025: The campaign that started a year before and changed the rules of the game

The presidential campaign of 2025 was an atypical one, marked by unprecedented mobilization, record investments in promotion and constant public attention fed by scandals and stage surprises.

PHOTO Inquam Photos / George Călin

The election campaign of the presidential elections 2025 was viewed very carefully including internationally, the foreign press frequently, after the annulment of last year's elections, about the “huge stake” of Romania for both the European Union and the NATO and the Ukraine war, in the context of the struggle between the two current, the one.

In addition, as ever, the candidates for the first election of the presidential elections 2025 gathered until April 30, 2025, according to the latest reported data, 165 million lei, of which 133 million were spent, amount that places this campaign in the first place in the ranking of the post-December period.

The calendar of the election campaign

The campaign of the 2025 presidential elections was marked by several potential events in changing the candidates in the intention to vote and which generated heated discussions:

April 9 – USR stops financing for Lasconi and supports Nicușor Dan

The Political Bureau of the USR decided to stop the financing of the election campaign for Elena Lasconi. The decision generated a series of legal sentences, in the context in which the political formation announced that it supports the independent candidate Nicușor Dan, a former member and founder of the party. BEC did not allow the election campaign to take place for another candidate, and the party leader acted in court to recover the necessary funds in the campaign.

The USR decision did not necessarily manage to help Nicușor Dan, but on the contrary, the analysts reported a wave of dissatisfaction with the party. At the same time, the electorate was already divided between the two candidates.

April 10 – Ponta “Pontă” the floods of 2014

The political analysts sang the prohode of Victor Ponta's candidacy after he was self-saved during an interview. Ponta explained that he received the citizenship of Serbia because in 2014, during the time he was a prime minister, Serbia helped during the floods, to the detriment of Romania.

“They gave it to me because I helped them with an extraordinary thing, which I will write in my memoir book. During the floods (2014 no), I gave an order over the Romanian structures to open the valley from the Iron Gates and in this way Belgrade was not flooded. Only a suburb was flooded, but if I didn't open the iron gates, Belgrade floods“Ponta said.

Ponta also stated that it was initially refused to open the dam from the Iron Gates because the Romanian side would have been flooded: “The Romanian side is flooded. And flooded. But I talked to ISU, I moved people, I gave damages quickly. You found nothing you, the press”.

Ironically, his slogan in the 2025 presidential elections was “Romania in the first place”.

April 10 – Nicușor Dan and meetings with Matei Păun

Nicușor Dan was contradicted by several images published by Click, indicating that meetings with Matei Păun, a businessman with links in Russia and Belarus, were more frequent than he initially said. The publication documented three moments when the two met from the time of the announcement of his candidacy in the presidential elections in December.

The independent candidate subsequently gave assurances that the businessman has no official role in his campaign and will not hold any position in his possible presidential term.

April 15 – CNSAS announcement regarding the statement given by Crin Antonescu at Security

CNSAS announced that in his years of youth Crin Antonescu, the candidate of the ruling coalition in the presidential elections 2025 gave a statement to the communist security in 1988, however, specifying that he has a proof that “he was not an agent or collaborator of the Security as a political police.”

The moment has been successfully managed from the first hours. The candidate's team organized a press conference, and Antonescu made details, finally showing that, in fact, he helped his colleague teacher, who managed to run abroad. Antonescu asked and presented the content of the statement and even received a helping hand from his former colleague, who publicly affirmed his confidence.

April 24 – Electoral letters from George Simion

At the national level, Orthodox priests would have received from George Simion, in the Great Week, an election letter, an pomelnic and a hundred lei. The action was repeated in the case of pensioners, being violated the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of personal data and regarding their free movement.

April 28 – April 30 – Three Debates in three days

During the three days of debates, the absence of the extremist current candidates, especially that of the candidate George Simion, ranked first in polls, was noted first. At the debate organized on April 29, there were 10 candidates, meaning all candidates except George Simion.

The three days of debates included several attacks between the candidates, especially surprising the competition between Crin Antonescu and Nicușor Dan. While Nicușor Dan accused Crin Antonescu that, as Minister of Youth and Sport, he approved the transfer of land in Bucharest. At the same time, from the PSD team, Nicușor Dan was accused of signed after years, under the pressure of the campaign, a building permit for the extension of a building in Bucharest, where a children's oncology hospital would work.

The debates also brought a revelation at the end. Preparing the land for what would follow, Elena Lasconi said that she would have been asked to appoint a certain person at the SRI leadership in the event that she became president.

May 1 – The event with the biggest impact of the campaign

The last event, the one who marked the most campaign was on Thursday night, on the penultimate campaign day. Elena Lasconi published several images indicating that there would have been a meeting between her counter -candidates, Victor Ponta and Nicușor Dan, and Florian Coldea.

Regarding this moment the analysts pointed out that they would have served more to Nicușor Dan and Victor Ponta, who concluded the campaign being the “victims” of a defamation attempt.

We no longer have the influence of the classic media

The specialist in public communication, Radu Delotte explained that the last month before the first presidential election was a “dramatic” one, in the sense that he managed to strongly follow the supporters of the candidates on social networks. “On the other hand, it was normal for episodes to happen. Because, in general, these choices are very disputed. They are, in the end, the most disputed elections in Romania. The presidential elections have always had the highest media view. And under these conditions, certain episodes, certain attacks, certain emotional elements or to arouse emotions, to arouse debate, to arouse a show, they were expected ”Radu Deloti pointed out for “Adevărul”.

The analyst also explained that during the campaign, “The impact of all the events was much smaller because, compared to, say, the other campaigns, because we have social media and influence social media as the main communication environment and the environment of exposure, which, as it is built, keeps your attention very brief. As dramatic, it lasted in the public agenda, even a week.

With over 100,000 voters on the first day, the high presence at the voting ballot boxes in the diaspora was expected, said Radu Delotte, after a campaign that, in fact, came to continue other months of pre -champion until last summer: “It is normal and I also say why, because we talk about the presidential elections already in August last year. From August last year we are talking about the presidential elections in a form or another. Because we had a row of canceled elections, but with the subject of the presidential elections we were connected somewhere from August last year. Campaign.

At the same time, the expert in public communication emphasized that the three television debates, organized by three different televisions were perhaps the most impact events. “The three debates, I strongly believe that they had their impact in this election campaign. (…) Somehow, any presumption of subjectivism has been eliminated.”Radu Delote stressed.

Overtime

The last day before the vote in the country also brought a creativity show on social media. Both candidates and supporters continued to indicate voting urges for certain candidates, although the campaign campaign ended at 7.00 on Sunday.

The social networks were crowded with words games, from “Sunday we vote in mathematics”, to “Tomorrow I go to vote at 11 o'clock” for Nicușor Dan, to “Bring horses” for George Simion and even to “General cleaning” for former candidate Călin Georgescu. Other posts on the social platforms stated “I like spring flowers”, more precisely “lily”. At the creativity contest, the candidates were attended. The independent candidate Victor Ponta asked the voters who “punish”.