Electoral guide. What is allowed and what is prohibited in the campaign for the elections in Bucharest

Bucharest is approaching a new round of local elections, scheduled for December 7, 2025, and the competition for the position of general mayor is expected to be close. Although the official campaign period is between November 22 and December 6, the electoral battle has already begun unofficially.

Bucharest is preparing for a new round of local elections. Archive photo

Already now, on social networks, in the press and on the streets of the city, we are already noticing activities that it looks strikingly like an election campaign: posters, public events, political statements and investment promises.

The electoral pre-campaign is the period before the official start of the campaign. Although legally the term of “pre-campaign” does not appear in the legislation, the reality on the ground required its use. In practice, the pre-campaign is the period in which everything that would be prohibited, limited or sanctioned in the campaign is done. It is the ideal space for building notoriety, testing messages and visually occupying the city, according to the legal information provided by the law firm Buju Stanciu y Asociații.

At the same time, the electoral campaign is well defined legally. During this period, parties and candidates must comply with strict rules regarding display, advertising, electoral speech and, above all, financing.

Strict rules in the campaign, freedom in the pre-campaign

The differences are drastic. In the official campaign, posters can only be pasted in places specially arranged by town halls, with standard dimensions (maximum 50 x 35 cm), and large street banners are prohibited. The use of color combinations that reproduce the Romanian flag is prohibited, and any electoral material must clearly indicate who produced it.

In the pre-campaign, these restrictions do not exist. Candidates can place banners anywhere, in any size, use national symbols and hold promotional events without limitations. A concrete example from the pre-campaign for Bucharest 2025 perfectly illustrates the problem. Several candidates promoted their image through massive outdoor campaigns, but without clearly associating the party's logo or name. Billboards featured messages with the candidate's name and generic slogans, but the mention of the party was barely visible. This practice falls under what is called “dark campaigning” in the international space: promotion highly visible to the public, but with the political identity almost invisible or intentionally ambiguous.

“It seems that the pre-campaign is the real race today. If you wait for the official start, you've already lost half the battle. The rules of the official campaign are so restrictive that they push the candidates to invest a lot before the campaign”the lawyers explain.

The issue of financial transparency

This distinction seems to represent a great paradox of the electoral system. In the official campaign, each candidate or party must open a dedicated bank account and make all expenses through that account, with periodic reporting to the Permanent Electoral Authority. There are clear legal caps and the obligation to detail every penny spent.

In the pre-campaign, expenses incurred before the official 30 days are not considered campaign expenses. Parties can invest in promotion without being subject to any legal ceiling. These expenses appear only in the parties' annual financial reports, usually published only in April of the following year. The voter sees ads, billboards, videos or sponsored content, but cannot know who paid for them or whether they come from private sources, donations, loans or third-party entities.

“Without transparency in the pre-campaign, voters cannot know who is financing the candidates and from what sources the resources used for the promotion come. There are very few legal tools to control the money spent in the pre-campaign, which can create significant risks for the integrity of the electoral process”warn the lawyers.

The EU has regulated political advertising

To combat this lack of transparency, the European Union adopted Regulation 2024/900, which applies to all political advertising, regardless of whether it is pre-campaign or campaign, offline or online.

The regulation requires materials to be clearly labeled as “Political advertising material”, to indicate the identity of the sponsor and the funding amounts, and to specify whether “micro-targeting” techniques have been used. The public needs to know when and why it has been selected to see a particular message, and authorities can control whether targeting complies with EU data protection rules and whether sensitive criteria (such as political orientation, religion or health) are used.

For the 2025 presidential elections, Romania issued an ordinance that includes the provisions of Regulation 2024/900 and establishes fines between 15,000 and 50,000 lei for non-compliance with the rules.

The problem is that, at the moment, these obligations are explicitly applied only during the official election campaign. Although the EU regulation says it also applies in the pre-campaign, the absence of a clear control mechanism makes compliance largely dependent on the goodwill of political actors.

Recommendations for candidates and voters

In an ever-changing electoral landscape, where the line between pre-campaign and campaign is becoming increasingly blurred, candidates need a strategy that combines visibility with legal prudence. “The optimal strategy remains the intelligent use of pre-campaigning, but with attention to the emerging legal framework. Properly labeling materials early in the campaign and keeping clear records of expenses can turn a potential scandal into an opportunity to demonstrate integrity“, claim the lawyers.

On the normative side, they emphasize current vulnerabilities of the system: “It is important to understand that this legislative gray area undermines the principles of equal opportunities in elections and citizens' right to correct information. The rigorous application of European Regulation 2024/900 in Romania is essential to ensure that elections truly respect democratic principles.”

For voters, the bottom line is simple but essential: The real campaign has already begun, even if it doesn't appear on the official calendar yet. Until legislation fully integrates pre-campaigning, the best protection remains vigilance. Information from diverse sources and the constant exercise of a critical spirit are the tools by which citizens can avoid non-transparent messages and strategies that operate in the gray area of ​​political communication.