Nicușor Dan’s narrow victory over far-right challenger George Simion on 18 May averted the election of Romania's first openly illiberal president. Yet Simion still managed to attract 46.4% of the vote. Vera Tika reveals how ideas born under the Iron Guard, refined under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s national-communism, and weaponised by TikTok, now dominate Romanian politics — and are testing Europe’s eastern frontier of democracy
Romania’s far-right revival did not begin with the 2019 founding of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). Its roots lie, rather, in the inter-war Iron Guard — also known as the Legionary Movement — that fused Orthodox mysticism, martyrdom and ethnic purity into one of Europe’s most theologically charged fascisms. Legionary leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu sacralised nationalism as spiritual redemption, elevating sacrificial violence, anti-elitism, and 'chosen-people' rhetoric into a political creed. The Iron Guard may have been crushed in 1941, but its legend, and its influence, endure.
In the 1970s, Nicolae Ceaușescu repackaged Codreanu's myths for his Marxist worldview, glorifying Dacian antiquity, denouncing Western liberalism, and sanctifying Romanian sovereignty. The 1989 revolution liberated Romania, yet did not exorcise these ghosts. As historian Constantin Iordachi notes, the charismatic nationalism of the past seeped unchallenged into post-communist consciousness.
Contemporary memes about 'globalist occupation' echo inter-war conspiracies against Jews, Freemasons, and liberals
Recent rallies for AUR leader George Simion invoke the martyrdom of Codreanu while party leaflets recycle Ceaușescu-era slogans about 'sovereignty' and 'foreign diktats'. Contemporary memes about 'globalist occupation' echo inter-war conspiracies against Jews, Freemasons, and liberals. Romania’s radical right is a palimpsest: scrape away post-communism and the older authoritarian script re-emerges.
Romania’s 34-year encounter with pluralism has delivered ballot boxes, but little in the way of improved living standards. GDP has risen, yet rural wages have lagged and scandals multiplied. From one election to the next, citizens watched parties merely swap offices, while the country's roads continued to crumble. Thomas Carothers calls this 'feckless pluralism'.
Populist radical-right parties, writes Cas Mudde, thrive on a 'thin-centred' blend of nativism, authoritarianism, and populism. Indeed, for Simion, the people are holy, the elites corrupt, and the nation is under siege. Enacting Benjamin Moffitt’s 'populist political style', during his latest campaign, Simion livestreamed crises every evening, and flooded Facebook groups with clips every morning,
Simion built his campaign on the assumption that the people are holy, the elites are corrupt, and the nation is under siege
Simion's identity cues helped magnify his reach. AUR banners mix Orthodox icons with hashtags. Diaspora influencers sermonise about 'unelected Brussels bureaucrats', while activists show empty village schools to indict capitalism, multiculturalism, and LGBTQ 'colonisation'. Linguist Ruth Wodak calls this the 'politics of fear'.
AUR took 9% in the 2020 parliamentary vote. The 2024 presidential election was annulled after alleged Russian interference; pro-Kremlin candidate Călin Georgescu was barred, and Simion cast himself as a martyr to the 'deep state', mirroring Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s 'competitive-authoritarian script'. Seven months later, Simion claimed 41% per cent in round one and 46.4% in the run-off — eclipsing Corneliu Vadim Tudor’s 28.3% shock of 2000. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), once hegemonic, missed the run-off entirely.
| Year | Winning candidate (party) | Runner-up | Far-right candidate(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Ion Iliescu (FSN) | Radu Câmpeanu (PNL) | - | First post-communist election |
| 1992 | Ion Iliescu (FSN) | Emil Constantinescu (CDR) | - | Continuity of former regime elite |
| 1996 | Emil Constantinescu (CDR) | Ion Iliescu (PDSR) | First peaceful alternation | |
| 2000 | Ion Iliescu (PDSR) | Corneliu Vadim Tudor (PRM) | 28.3 % | First far-right run-off |
| 2004 | Traian Băsescu (PDL) | Adrian Năstase (PSD) | PSD punished for corruption | |
| 2009 | Traian Băsescu (PDL) | Mircea Geoană (PSD) | Centre-right continuity | |
| 2014 | Klaus Iohannis (PNL) | Victor Ponta (PSD) | Pro-EU, anti-corruption message | |
| 2019 | Klaus Iohannis (PNL) | Viorica Dăncilă (PSD) | Far right still marginal | |
| 2024 | Election annulled | - | Călin Georgescu (AUR) disq. | Interference scandal |
| 2025 | Nicușor Dan (ind.) | George Simion (AUR) | 46.4 % | Far right at governing gate |
Years of 'feckless pluralism' has eroded Romanian citizens' trust in democracy. AUR offers visceral alternatives: Orthodox morality, anti-globalism, and a promise to 'drain the swamp'. Guided by Mudde’s three-part formula of nativism, authoritarianism and anti-elitism, Simion turned grievance into meme humour and patriotic kitsch, attracting almost half the vote.
Dan’s victory keeps Bucharest in the EU’s liberal camp, albeit by a razor-thin margin. Levitsky and Way warn that competitive authoritarianism flourishes where democratic rules survive on paper, but ambitious actors erode them from within. AUR’s near-win shows how quickly erosion could start: undermining courts, cowing the media, recasting EU duties as foreign diktats, and claiming a mandate from 'the real Romanians'.
Unless mainstream forces tackle corruption, rebuild social safety nets and craft an inclusive patriotism in Romania, Simion — or someone savvier — will return
Romania’s 2025 vote was not liberalism’s triumph, only its reprieve. Unless mainstream forces tackle corruption, rebuild social safety nets and craft an inclusive patriotism, Simion — or someone savvier — will return. Beating the far right at the ballot box is step one; defeating the conditions that breed it is democracy’s unfinished job.
