Centrist Nicusor Dan has won the Romanian presidential elections after beating hard-right rival.
According to Al Jazeera, after counting 99 percent of votes, Bucharest’s pro-European mayor Dan was declared the winner of the elections, which means the new president of Romania.
As per the electoral authority, Dan won 54 percent of the votes, while his rival nationalist George Simion, the leader of the far-right AUR party, who won a dramatic first-round victory earlier this month, received 46 percent of the votes.
Dan, after winning the elections, said, “A community of Romanians who want a profound change in Romania won. I want to choose the pro-European way. It's the only way. It's really important.”
Dan’s victory sparked reactions from French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Macron expressed, “(Romanians had) chosen democracy, the rule of law, and the European Union … despite many attempts at manipulation.”
Zelenskyy also congratulated Dan and said that it is important “to have Romania as a reliable partner.”
Who is Nicușor Dan?
Nicușor Dan, the reserved mathematician-turned-reformer, was born in Brașov County, Transylvania, in December 1969. The civic activist is also a former International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) gold medallist.
The 55-year-old early brilliance in mathematics helped him in securing perfect scores in back-to-back IMO competitions in 1987 and 1988 to rank first globally. Before engaging in civic activism, he completed his PhD in France after pursuing mathematics at the University of Bucharest.
Dan, currently serving as the mayor of Bucharest, is known for modernising the heating system and sports facilities in the capital.
