Overview
- An official preliminary count with about 90% of ballots tallied shows Ciprian Ciucu at 35.4%, with AUR-backed independent Anca Alexandrescu second at 22.35%.
- The result denies the hard-right AUR a breakthrough in Bucharest that some polls had suggested was possible for the first time in an EU capital.
- The mayor’s office has been vacant since May after Nicusor Dan won a presidential election re-run that followed a cancelled vote over suspected Russian interference.
- Analysts say the win shifts leverage inside the pro-European government, giving Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s Liberals momentum ahead of a no-confidence motion over judicial pension reform.
- AUR’s platform opposes military aid to Ukraine and criticizes EU leadership, while a previous far-right frontrunner, Calin Georgescu, awaits trial on charges of attempting to subvert national security.