The Constitutional Court has finalized, on Wednesday, the resolution of all appeals filed against the presidential candidates for the 2025 elections.
Therefore, 11 candidates are competing for the position of President of Romania, including four independent candidates. For the first time in post-December history, the PSD does not have its own candidate in the presidential elections.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the only PSD candidate who missed the presidential final in the last 35 years, has refused to enter the competition again. Therefore, the social democrats are counting on former liberal Crin Antonescu, the common candidate of the governing coalition PSD-PNL-UDMR-national minorities.
However, the name of a former PSD leader can be found on the ballot: Victor Ponta, who has returned to the competition for Cotroceni after 10 years, this time as an independent candidate.
USR President Elena Lasconi, a finalist in the autumn elections, is competing on the same electoral track with the Mayor of the Capital, Nicuşor Dan, who also entered the race as an independent candidate.
The sovereigntist parties – AUR and POT – have decided that Anamaria Gavrilă should withdraw to avoid splitting the votes, and the common candidate remains George Simion, who is trying to transfer the electorate of Călin Georgescu.
Also from the sovereigntist area, the ballot includes Cristian Terheş, a Member of the European Parliament on the AUR list. Terheş also ran in the autumn, when he only received 1% of the votes.
Moreover, Silviu Predoiu, the former head of the SIE, is running again for the presidential elections, after finishing last in the November elections, receiving fewer votes than Ludovic Orban, who dropped out of the electoral race in favor of Elena Lasconi.
Here are the 11 candidates for the presidential elections:
1. **Nicuşor Dan** – independent candidate
2. **Crin Antonescu** – candidate PSD-PNL-UDMR
3. **Victor Ponta** – independent candidate
4. **Elena Lasconi** – USR candidate
5. **Cristian Terheş** – candidate for the Romanian National Conservative Party
6. **Lavinia Şandru** – PUSL candidate
7. **George Simion** – AUR candidate
8. **John Ion Banu** – independent candidate
9. **Silviu Predoiu** – candidate for the National Action League
10. **Daniel Funeriu** – independent candidate
11. **Sebastian Constantin Popescu** – New Romania Party