Two new polls by survey companies CURS and AtlasIntel show an extremely tight race for Bucharest general mayor, a position left vacant after former mayor Nicusor Dan became president of Romania earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Social Democrat (PSD) candidate Daniel B\u0103lu\u0163\u0103 tops the CURS poll<\/a>, with 27%, followed by center-right candidates Ciprian Ciucu (National Liberal Party – PNL) and C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103 (Save Romania Union – USR), each with 22%. The parties of the three main candidates are all part of the governing coalition, and relations have been tense as a result of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the candidate of the far-right opposition party Alliance for Union of Romanians (AUR), Anca Alexandrescu, is backed by 15% of Bucharest voters, followed by a series of independent candidates who score between 2 and 5% of votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regarding the rejection rate, the highest level is recorded by Anca Alexandrescu, mentioned by 28% of respondents. She is followed by Virgil Zidar, a sovereignist influencer known as Makaveli, with 20%, and C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103, with 17%. Candidates from traditional parties tend to exhibit lower rejection rates, according to the survey.<\/p>\n More than half of respondents, 57%, firmly state that they will vote, while another 9% declare themselves very likely to participate in the elections. Only a minority of 3% say they will definitely not vote.<\/p>\n When asked to list the problems that Bucharest faces, respondents mention traffic, the functioning of public hospitals, the faulty heating system, corruption in the local administration, and air pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n A separate poll by AtlasIntel<\/a> also shows an extremely tight race between the top four ranking candidates, an unprecedented situation in Bucharest. Liberal Ciprian Ciucu heads the poll, with 19.2%, followed by Daniel B\u0103lu\u021b\u0103 with 18.6%, C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103 with 18.1%, and Anca Alexandrescu with 17.9%.<\/p>\n The same poll shows that Ana Ciceal\u0103, an independent backed by the progressive, non-parliamentary SENS party, gathers 7.1% of votes, followed by another independent, Vlad Gheorghe, with 2.6%. Virgil Zidaru is credited with 2.8% of the votes.<\/p>\n The opinion poll was conducted by AtlasIntel for Hotnews.ro between November 12\u201314, 2025, on a sample of 2,429 people.<\/p>\n The survey firm AtlasIntel gained prominence in 2024 when it correctly predicted the result of the local elections. The firm failed to foresee the lightning-fast rise in popularity of pro-Russian candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu in the presidential elections the same year, but it did correctly place center-right candidate Elena Lasconi among the top two candidates.<\/p>\n Ciprian Ciucu<\/a> and Daniel Baluta<\/a> have fought over the top position in mayoral surveys over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n The elections are set to take place on December 7.<\/p>\n