Nicușor Dan

Nicușor Daniel Dan (; born 20 December 1969) is a Romanian politician, mathematician, and civic activist serving as the sixth president of Romania since 2025. He previously served as the mayor of Bucharest from 2020 to 2025 and as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2016 to 2020.

Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Dan earned international acclaim in his youth as a mathematician, securing gold medals and perfect scores at the 1987 and 1988 International Mathematical Olympiads. He began studying mathematics at the University of Bucharest and then moved to France, where he obtained a master's degree from École normale supérieure and a PhD from Paris 13 University. After returning to Romania, Dan founded Școala Normală Superioară București, an institution aimed at guiding the most talented Romanian students towards scientific research, and became a civic activist.

In 2015, Dan founded the Save Bucharest Union (USB), focusing on anti-corruption and heritage preservation. One year later, he co-founded the Save Romania Union (USR), but resigned from the party in 2017 over its progressive shift, preferring a more centrist approach. Dan served in the Chamber of Deputies from 2016, before being elected Bucharest's second independent mayor in 2020 and winning re-election in 2024. As mayor, he focused on public infrastructure and transparency, although he received criticism over construction delays.

Dan ran as an independent for the 2025 presidential election and received 21% of the vote in the first round, placing second. He faced Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) founder George Simion in the runoff, defeating him with 53.6% of the vote. Dan ran on a pro-Western platform, which contrasted with his opponent's nationalist and Eurosceptic stance.

Early life and education

Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, he attended the Radu Negru High School in his native city, graduating in 1988. He came first in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 1987 and 1988 with perfect scores. Dan moved to Bucharest at the age of 18 and began studying mathematics at the University of Bucharest.

In 1992, he moved to France to continue studying mathematics; he attended the École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious French ''grandes écoles'', where he earned a master's degree. In 1998 Dan completed a PhD in mathematics at Paris 13 University, with thesis "Courants de Green et prolongement méromorphe" written under the direction of Christophe Soulé and . He returned to Bucharest that year, giving as reasons the cultural differences and the desire to change Romania.Sandra Pralong (ed), ''De ce m-am întors în România''
"10 ani în România"
, Polirom, 2010,

Dan was one of the creators and the first administrative director of the , a university set up on the model of the French École Normale Supérieure within the Romanian Academy's Institute of Mathematics. , he was a professor of mathematics at the institute.

Activism

In 1998, Dan founded ''Asociația "Tinerii pentru Acțiune Civică"'' ("Young People for Civic Action" Association), for which he wanted to gather a thousand young people who wanted to change Romania, which was his stated goal for returning to the country. Despite failing in its goals, the association did organise two forums for young people who studied abroad, in 2000 and 2002, to which a few hundred people participated. As result of these forums, the "Ad Astra" Association of Romanian researchers was created in 2000.

Save Bucharest Association

Dan founded the ''Asociația "Salvați Bucureștiul"'' ("Save Bucharest" Association) in 2006 as a reaction to the demolition of architectural heritage houses and the building of high-rise buildings in protected Bucharest neighborhoods, as well as the diminishing number of green space areas in Bucharest.

In March 2008, the association published the "Bucharest, an urbanistic disaster" Report, which discussed Bucharest's problems and ways to overcome them. In the same year, during the elections, together with other NGOs, the association drafted a ''Pact for Bucharest'', which was signed by all the candidates for mayor of Bucharest. On April Fools' Day in 2012, Dan published a list of 100 electoral promises made by elected mayor of Bucharest Sorin Oprescu which were not kept, including the "Pact for Bucharest".

The association was involved in many trials, winning 23 trials against the local authorities of Bucharest. Among them are the cancellation of a project which would have built a water park on 7 hectares of Tineretului Park, saving from demolition a number of heritage buildings on Șoseaua Kiseleff no. 45, and the cancelation of a project which would have built a glass building on top of Palatul Știrbei on Calea Victoriei.

The association was also able to push for some changes in 2009 to the urban planning law.

Early political career

2012 local elections

Dan announced his candidacy for Mayor of Bucharest in November 2011 at a café on Arthur Verona Street, with just a few guests, including Theodor Paleologu, a historian and Member of Parliament.

For gathering the 36,000 signatures needed for his candidacy, having the backing of no party, he relied on a network of volunteers organised on Facebook. On 22 April 15 bands and musicians performed pro-bono at for Dan's campaign in order to help him gather the signatures. During the 12-hour-long concert, volunteers gathered 4,000 signatures.

Political positions and programme

Among his proposed projects are the creation of a light rail infrastructure over the existing rail lines in Bucharest, creating an infrastructure for prioritising public transport over other traffic in intersections, consolidating buildings that are likely to be affected by earthquakes, protecting the urban green space and clearing illegal buildings from parks.

Dan argues that it is important to incentivise young people to stay in the city, by making it a regional hub in IT, creative industries and higher education, and attracting investors and skilled people from across the region.

Support and opinions on his candidacy

He received support from Andrei Pleșu, who argued that Dan was the only one of the candidates who was interested in the architecture of Bucharest and did not support any utopian initiatives. He also received support from political scientist and Member of the European Parliament Cristian Preda.

Dan gained the support of some journalists who wrote about him in op-eds from several newspapers: Andrei Crăciun of ''Adevărul'' saw in him "a Don Quijote untouched by the vulgar lard of undeserved riches" and "a person who works against the system". Florin Negruțiu, the editor-in-chief of '' Gândul'' thought he was an "atypical candidate" for Bucharest, the model candidate of the intellectuals; nevertheless, the journalist did not see any chances that Dan would become mayor, because he was "too serious" a candidate, and unlikely to appeal to the masses. Neculai Constantin Munteanu from ''Radio Free Europe'' wrote that he supported Dan for his unselfish way of caring about Bucharest and that his opponents were "comedians", from whom one could "admire the imposture, ludicrousness, and incompetence".

2016 local elections

Having registered Save Bucharest Union (USB) as a political party in 2015, Dan ran again for Mayor of Bucharest in 2016. This time, the elections were held in a single round. He gained 30.52% of the total votes, losing to the socialist candidate, Gabriela Firea, who gained 42.97% of the total votes.

In the election, Dan managed to attract the young electorate, with over half of his voters being under the age of 40. Some of USB's candidates for sector mayor have also performed well in their respective races, proving USB's viability as a future political force.

Save Romania Union

Wanting to capitalise on the momentum that saw him gain a third of the votes in the local elections, Dan announced shortly after the 2016 local election that the Save Bucharest Union would change its name to Save Romania Union (USR), shifting its focus to a national stage. He also announced plans for the new party to enter the parliamentary elections of that year.

With Dan at the top of the candidate list, USR gained 8.92% of the vote in the Senate race and 8.87% in the Chamber of Deputies, which made them the third largest party in Romania. The result also meant that Dan became a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Departure from USR

In 2017, anti-same-sex NGO Coaliția pentru Familie managed to raise the necessary number of signatures to organise a referendum that would change the part of the Romanian Constitution dealing with marriage, with the hope of redefining it as "between a man and a woman". This created a rift within USR, between the progressive wing, who wanted USR to become the only parliamentary party to oppose the initiative, and Dan, who believed USR should not get involved in the debate and that the party should remain open for both progressives and conservatives. An internal referendum within the party followed, in which 52.7% of members voted to position the party against the Constitutional initiative, which led Dan to resign from the party on 1 June 2017. As explanation for his opposition to the National Council vote he cited religious matters, the dangers of deviating from the main party issue of fighting against corruption and his refusal to belong to a party that defines itself as a party of civil liberties.

Independent

After his resignation from USR, Dan continued to serve as a member of the Chamber of Deputies as an independent.

Due to a quirk in the Romanian electoral law, USR required his signature when they attempted to legally register their alliance with the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS). In order to help his former party, in March 2019 Dan briefly rejoined USR as a common member, gave the necessary signature and then resigned for a second time.

Mayor of Bucharest (2020–2025)

2020 local elections

In May 2019, he announced his plans to once again run for Mayor of Bucharest, as an independent. Dan mentioned that while he hoped that his candidacy would be supported by the rest of the opposition parties, he would not run against a different common candidate, unwilling to split the vote of the opposition.

He was ultimately supported by both USR and the National Liberal Party (PNL). With 95% of votes counted, partial results suggested that he won the mayoral election with 42.8% of votes. Shortly afterwards exit polls showed him winning the race, he announced victory. On 5 October 2020 the Central Electoral Bureau confirmed his status as the new Mayor of Bucharest, winning the elections with a plurality of 42.81% against Gabriela Firea (37.97%), the former Mayor.

2024 local elections

Following the decision made by the governing alliance between the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) to hold the elections in June 2024, Dan participated once again as an independent for Mayor, for a new term. This time, he was supported by the same USR (Save Romanian Union) party, but also by two other minor parties, the People's Movement Party (PMP) and The Force of the Right (FD) whose president is former PNL leader Ludovic Orban, who left the party in 2021 after losing the presidency of the party to then-prime minister Florin Cîțu; all three formed the United Right Alliance (ADU), an official national opposition to the National Coalition for Romania (CNR) formed by the PSD and PNL. Additionally, the REPER party, headed by former PLUS leader Dacian Cioloș, supported Dan, but was not part of ADU.

The elections were held on 9 June 2024 together with the European Parliament elections in Romania, a controversial move done by the CNR earlier that year. Thought to be a close race up until the last moment, the exit polls showed the result was overwhelmingly in favour of Dan, winning with 45% of the total vote, who declared himself the winner of the race. After the vote count, Dan was the clear winner of the elections with approximately 48% of the total votes, more than double the votes given to the same runner-up from 2020, Gabriela Firea, who placed second with 22%, followed by then Sector 5 Mayor, Cristian Popescu Piedone (16%) and PNL candidate and president for the Bucharest branch of the party, Sebastian Burduja (7.6%).

During his victory speech, Dan declared his intention to organise two referendums for Bucharest, one for centralising more power to the General Mayor of Bucharest regarding building authorisations, a very consistent theme during his campaign, and another for allocating more financial funds to the General Mayor rather than to the Sector mayors. Both were planned to take place on the same day as the parliamentary elections, in order to "reduce organisational costs for separate elections", according to Dan.

Piața Unirii incident

On 14 October 2024, around midnight, Sector 4 mayor Daniel Băluță (PSD) - with permission from Sector 3 mayor Robert Negoiță - sent multiple construction workers and Sector 4 local police agents to Unirii Park in order to start proceedings for the Square's foundation's consolidation. The Piața Unirii is shared between Sector 3 and Sector 4.

In the morning, Dan went to the square together with his staff, telling the workers present to halt the procedure on the basis of its illegality due to a lack of permits. Allegedly, Metrorex and Apa Nova (Bucharest's water and sewage administration institution) had yet to give their approval for the consolidation work.

A conflict erupted between the Sector 4 local police agents (including its director, Cristian Pîslă, subsequently suspected of corruption) and Dan and his staff. Eventually, the Bucharest mayor returned with additional documents attesting to the fact that the City Hall of Bucharest was the legal owner of Unirii Square and the sector City Halls had no right to start consolidation proceedings on their own. During the scuffles, local police agents were observed to be especially violent, which the wide public of Bucharest viewed as proof of the agents being members of the Sector 4 Clanul Sportivilor, an organisation of the Romanian mafia operating mainly in the southern part of Bucharest who were long suspected to work with Daniel Băluță himself.

Romanian Prime-minster Marcel Ciolacu intervened in the matter prompting mayor Băluță to concede; Nicușor Dan launched an investigation into the proceedings. He once again stressed the importance on the referendum held on 9 June 2024 for centralising more power to the Bucharest mayor.

2025 presidential campaign

After the Piața Unirii incident, Dan was viewed even more favourably by the general populace of Bucharest, being called a bulwark against the widespread corruption of the country and the only one to effectively stand against the PSD-PNL coalition. This led to speculation of a possible presidential candidature in the next elections. On 16 December he announced his candidacy for the 2025 Romanian presidential election, after the annulment of the 2024 elections due to Russian meddling in favour of winner of the first round Călin Georgescu.

His announcement came as a surprise to many, as he had previously expressed his intention to serve at least one more term as Mayor of Bucharest before the elections, stating that he "would need at least 2-3 terms to make everything right in Bucharest." This change of plans also led to a falling out with Elena Lasconi, a former supporter of Dan, who came second in the annulled 2024 elections' first round. It is widely believed that Lasconi and Dan appealed to similar voter demographics, with both targeting liberal, progressive, moderate, pro-European, and anti-PSD/anti-PNL camps. As a result, their simultaneous candidacies may have divided this voter base. The Constitutional Court validated his candidacy on 16 March along with those of George Simion and Victor Ponta. On 22 March, a random draw placed Dan at the bottom of the candidate list on the ballot.

Dan came second in the first round of voting on 4 May with 20.99% of the vote. On 18 May, he faced George Simion in a runoff, winning the presidency with 53.6% of the vote.

Presidency (2025–present)

Dan was inaugurated as president on 26 May 2025. In his inaugural address, he pledged to deal with Romania’s economic problems while acknowledging that "the Romanian state is spending more than it can afford”. He also pledged to become a president “open to the voice of society.”

Electoral history

Mayor of Bucharest

Presidential elections

Political positions

Geopolitical alignment

Dan has consistently advocated pro-Western views, emphasising Romania's integration into the European Union and NATO as cornerstones of national security and economic progress.

In his 2025 presidential campaign, Dan positioned himself as a staunch defender of Western democratic values; he supported NATO's presence in Romania, particularly amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, contrasting sharply with George Simion's nationalism and Euroscepticism.

However, Dan faced accusations over his ties with businessman Matei Păun, who was linked to Russian and Belarusian firms and oligarchs. Păun's firm, BAC Financial Advisory SRL, acquired Getica OOH in 2011 from News Corp via Russian VTB Bank and Alpha Capital Partners. Păun allegedly boasted of financing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and made statements questioning 2014 Western sanctions on Russia, praising Russian Orthodox "mysticism", and doubting Ukraine's Orange Revolution and Crimea's annexation.

LGBT rights

In 2000, Dan published an article in the magazine '' Dilema'' in which he stated his rejection of " homosexual behaviour in public spaces in Romania," describing it as "an attack against traditional values" and "legitimate collective identity". The statements resurfaced after his political career took off, particularly during his much-publicised departure from USR. Dan distanced himself from his previous statements on several occasions, claiming that he is not homophobic and that his opinion on the matter has changed in the following years.

Alleged Securitate collaboration

In May 2024, ahead of local elections, a purported Securitate document from July 1988 emerged, detailing Dan's collaboration with the secret police of the Ceaușescu regime. The document contained information provided by Dan about his high school peers who participated in the International Mathematical Olympiads of 1987 and 1988.

Dan denied its authenticity, claiming he had minimal contact with authorities of the time. PSD leader and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu questioned the document's credibility, noting its unusually polished composition. The National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) deemed it a forgery, citing incorrect dates, atypical expressions, and a writing style inconsistent with the typewriters used by the Securitate, including the absence of diacritics typical in genuine documents of the era.

Personal life

Dan lives with his long-term partner, Mirabela, a Renault executive. They had a daughter in May 2016 and a son in May 2022.

References

External links

Nicușor Dan's website

Salvați Bucureștiul (Save Bucharest) Association
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dan, Nicusor
1969 births
Living people
People from Făgăraș
Romanian mathematicians
Romanian political candidates
Presidents of Romania Romanian activists
Romanian conservationists
Mayors of Bucharest
Radu Negru National College alumni
University of Bucharest alumni
University of Paris alumni
École Normale Supérieure alumni
International Mathematical Olympiad participants
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
Save Romania Union politicians
Romanian expatriates in France