Presidential runoff: Higher and higher turnout in the diaspora

Over 779,000 Romanians voted by Sunday at 10 a.m., a higher turnout than in the first round

By Romania Journal Last updated May 18, 2025

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Over 779,000 Romanians have voted by Sunday morning at 10 a.m., a higher turnout than in the first round. Still, the most are in the UK, Italy and Germany. According to the AEP, in the first round, 420,912 Romanian citizens had voted by this time. Two weeks ago, by 10:00, most voters abroad had cast their votes in Italy, the UK and Germany.

Over 270,000 Romanians had voted in the diaspora in the 2025 presidential elections, the second round, by Saturday morning, a number almost twice as high as that registered in the first round, in November 2024. For three days, all Romanian citizens with the right to vote who are outside the country can vote at the 966 polling stations organized abroad, based on an identity document issued by the Romanian authorities. In this decisive stage of the presidential election, George Simion, leader of the AUR party, and Nicușor Dan, independent candidate and mayor of the capital, face off.

There were 270,809 voters who voted in the diaspora, by Saturday at 11:00, in the second round of the presidential elections, of which 267,670 voted on the supplementary lists and 3,139 voters by mail, according to data provided in real type by AEP. In the first round of the elections, by 11:00 there were 143,781 voters who voted in the diaspora. In comparison, in the elections of November 24, 2024, by Saturday, at 11:00, 56,569 people voted, of which 52,342 on the supplementary lists.

The electoral campaign for the second round of the presidential elections ended on Saturday, at 7:00 a.m. According to the Central Electoral Bureau, it is forbidden to continue electoral propaganda after the end of the electoral campaign.

Over 80,000 votes have been cast in the diaspora by 3:00 p.m., 34,000 more than in the first round The difference from the votes in the first round continues to grow in the diaspora. By 3:00 p.m., 80,769 Romanians abroad had voted.

The highest turnout remains in the Republic of Moldova, where 15,600 people voted. In the first round, there were 6,066. In the UK, there have been twice as many votes so far. At 3 p.m., 10,937 people have voted, compared to 5,188. In Italy, there are over 10,768, compared to 6,748, and in Germany 9,126 – compared to 5,812

By 1:00 p.m. on Friday, 70% more votes had been cast in the diaspora than in the first round. Extra votes are everywhere in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Moldova. The latter country is claimed by the AUR candidate.

In the first round of presidential elections, Nicusor Dan ranked first on votes in Republic of Moldova- 52.6% versus George Simion, who ranked third with 12.4%.

At 1 p.m., there were over 50,000 votes cast in the diaspora, compared to 30,900 in Round 1. That’s an increase of almost 70%. There’s a lot of voting in Italy (7,100 versus 4,600), the Republic of Moldova (11,000 versus 4,300) or the United Kingdom, where it’s double (6,000 versus 3,000).

On Friday, five hours after the opening of the European diaspora votes, George Simion posted on Facebook an illustration of Traian Băsescu and Nicușor Dan, along with the message: “Enough with the ‘campaign’, now we must stop the huge fraud! My colleagues are with the STS leadership now, in the Republic of Moldova the government has started stealing! We will not let them!”.

Moldovan Gov’t retorts: Moldovians with Romanian citizenship are free people

“Out of respect for the voters, we urge all political actors to refrain from accusations, which only serve to compromise this democratic exercise,” reacted to HotNews, the spokesperson for the Government in Chisinau, Daniel Vodă, following the accusations of fraud launched by the AUR candidate in the presidential elections, George Simion.

“Moldovians with Romanian citizenship are free people. They have the guaranteed right to vote according to their own beliefs. We are happy to see the civic responsibility they demonstrate and their active participation in the vote. We encourage everyone to go out to vote and make their voices heard. Without fear,” the spokesperson for the Government in Chisinau also told HotNews.

AUR claims to meet with STS

AUR announced, Friday morning, through a press release, that party representatives are meeting with the leadership of the Special Telecommunications Service, after yesterday accusing possible vote fraud. They said they requested the urgent meeting from STS following “information appearing in the public space indicating that certain interest groups are preparing actions to fraud the electoral process on May 18.”

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