Nicusor Dan sworn in as Romania's new president
Pro-EU centrist and then-Bucharest Mayor Dan won the Romanian presidential election on May 18, defeating the far-right, anti-Ukraine George Simion with 53.6% of the votes.
During the ceremony, Dan took the constitutional oath with his hand on the Bible and the Constitution, vowing to serve the Romanian people and uphold the rule of law.
In his address to lawmakers following the oath, Dan thanked citizens for their engagement in recent political debates, regardless of their stance.
"Society has shown that it is alive and strong," Dan said, adding: "I invite you to continue your civic involvement and apply pressure on the Romanian state to reform."
Dan's inauguration marks the end of the interim term of Ilie Bolojan, who had served as Romania's acting president since the resignation of President Klaus Iohannis in February.
The inauguration was blessed by Patriarch Daniel, head of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Marian Enache, president of the Constitutional Court, confirmed the legitimacy of Dan's mandate, urging him to be "the president of all Romanians," including those who did not vote for him.
Simion, head of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians who has been banned from entering Ukraine, decided to contest his loss, filing an appeal to annul the election results with Romania's Constitutional Court. The court unanimously rejected the appeal as "unfounded."
The election took place against the backdrop of Romania's previous presidential vote in November 2024, which was annulled after credible evidence of foreign interference, including pro-Russian disinformation efforts. That first round of the annulled election was won by ultranationalist Calin Georgescu, known for promoting conspiracy theories and questioning Ukraine's sovereignty.
Dan's victory is seen as a positive signal for Romania's continued pro-Ukraine and pro-European direction. President Volodymyr Zelensky has already extended an invitation for Dan to visit Kyiv for high-level talks.
Read also: Romania's new president faces daunting challenges after surprise victory over far-right upstart
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The hour before his siblings' funeral began, Oleksandr Martyniuk, 24, was digging through what remained of his family home — searching for anything he could salvage. Across the way, a small pile was forming: a stack of dinner plates, a heap of toys, a red rug, rolled up tight. Then he found the chickens. For three days, they had been trapped without food or water under the rubble — the same rubble that had crushed his two younger brothers and sister days before. Oleksandr gently picked each bird up — some injured, some still far from full-grown — and moved them to safety in the trunk of a half-blown-up car. They clucked as his girlfriend quietly fed them grain out of her hand. Oleksandr was in Kyiv when the call came about the first Russian attack on his quiet hometown. A missile had plunged straight into his family's home. Staying busy was how Oleksandr was coping with this new world, the one where his childhood home no longer existed, his parents were wounded, and three of his four siblings were dead. Dusk was settling in. He quickly changed his clothes, showered and rushed to the church, where hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects. His mother was too unwell to attend her three children's funeral. Instead, it was Oleksandr who stood by his father, clutching his shoulders as hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects to the three coffins in the tiny church. Two were for Tamara and Stanislav, the youngest children, who had been studying traditional Ukrainian music at a nearby school. And one was for Roman, who was due to finish high school in weeks. That night, a teacher laid his graduation sash across his coffin. Oksana Parafeniuk and Serhiy Morgunov contributed to this report.
