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paragraph_text: George Nicolae Simion (Romanian: ; born 21 September 1986) is a Romanian politician and civic activist. He is the founder and chairman of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the second largest party in both houses of parliament since 2024. He was a candidate in the 2025 Romanian presidential election.
  
  Simion completed his high school studies at the Gheorghe Lazăr National College, before studying business administration at the University of Bucharest and then graduating from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University with a master's degree in history. Following his studies, he began campaigning for the unification of Moldova and Romania, and has since set up notable associations and events for this purpose, such as Action 2012, the Alliance for the Centenary and the Centenary March. As a result of his agitation campaigns, he has been prohibited from entering Moldova on several occasions in the past, and he is currently barred from entering the country as a persona non grata.
  
  In 2019, Simion began to participate in politics, running as an independent candidate for the 2019 European Parliament election in Romania, in which he obtained 117,141 votes. After this, the AUR party was founded on 19 September 2019. The AUR garnered national and international attention after its unexpectedly high vote share in the 2020 Romanian parliamentary election.
  
  Simion has been involved in several controversies, notably AUR's support for two former military officers who had allegedly repressed revolutionaries in the 1989 Romanian Revolution entering the Romanian Parliament or his participation in the Valea Uzului ethnic conflict.
  
  Simion ran as the AUR candidate in the May 2025 Romanian presidential election, winning the first round, but ultimately losing the runoff to Nicușor Dan.