section_path: 2024 and 2025 presidential elections/2025
section_name: 2025
paragraph_text: 2025
  
  On 14 January 2025, he was elected vice-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party. For the 2025 elections, Simion was a key supporter of Georgescu along with POT leader and former AUR deputy Anamaria Gavrilă, stating that he would not stand were Georgescu permitted to. On 1 March, Simion organised a protest with tens of thousands of participants in Bucharest's University Square, stating that its objectives were to "restore democracy and free elections" and demand the resignation of prime minister Ciolacu. He also doubted the integrity of the upcoming electoral processes.
  
  On 7 March 2025, Georgescu filed his candidacy for the election, with the Central Electoral Bureau (CEB) rejecting it two days later. After an appeal, a final ruling to bar Georgescu from the election was made on 11 March. At the time of his disqualification, Georgescu was leading in opinion polling.
  
  Having announced to do so two days prior, Simion arrived to the CEB on 14 March accompanied by former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki to file his candidacy for president after collecting 604,000 signatures, above the minimum requirement of 200,000. The CEB approved his candidacy on the following day, which was also the deadline for candidates to register, with Simion stating "We passed the BEC, now let's see if we pass the CCR and return to democracy". The CCR validated his candidacy one day later as well as the ones of Nicușor Dan and Victor Ponta. Final confirmation that Simion would be allowed to run was given on 19 March, as the CCR rejected all appeals against his candidacy as well as those against Gavrilă. On the same day, Gavrilă withdrew her candidacy, endorsing Simion. A final list of all 11 candidates was released on the following day. On 22 March, a random draw placed Simion at the top of the candidate list on the ballot.
  
  Simion led the first round of voting on 4 May with 41% of the vote. He lost to Nicușor Dan in a runoff on 18 May, having won 46.40% of the vote against Dan's 53.60%. Dan defeated Simion particularly among urban voters, women and ethnic minorities, notably Hungarians. Having previously conceded the election, Simion filed on 20 May a contest of the results to the CCR, alleging mass voter fraud. Two days later, the CCR official validated the election, with Dan being inaugurated president on 26 May.