Diana Sosoaca, the leader of far-right party SOS Romania, announced her candidacy for Romania’s 2025 presidential election on February 17, saying she has gathered nearly all the required signatures to formalise her bid.

Sosoaca’s announcement follows a shift to the right in Romania, where fellow far-right, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu won the first round of the 2024 presidential election. The election was cancelled shortly before the second round, after concerns were raised about the financing of Georgescu’s campaign. However, he remains the frontrunner ahead of the rescheduled May 2025 vote. 

Sosoaca was barred from running in the 2024 election, after the Constitutional Court of Romania ruled to invalidate her candidacy, citing irregularities in her documents and a lack of adherence to democratic values.

Specifically, the Constitutional Court determined that her public remarks, which were anti-Semitic and anti-Western, along with her advocacy for stronger ties with Moscow, posed a threat to democracy as well as Romania's position within the EU and Nato.

She warned the Constitutional Court against any further attempts to block her candidacy, calling out Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and other political figures whom she accused of manipulating public opinion.

Following the CCR’s decision in October, Sosoaca alleged political interference. “The order came from Marcel Ciolacu and the Romanian secret services,” she claimed at the time, further accusing “the Americans [and] the Jews” of plotting to rig the election. She described the court’s decision as the beginning of “dictatorship”, urging citizens to protest in the streets.

If Sosoaca is allowed to run this time around, she will most likely face fellow far right candidates Georgescu and Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) leader George Simeon. 

In a separate development, Romania’s Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism and the Memory of the Exiles (IICCMER) has filed a legal complaint against Sosoaca for allegedly spreading the cult of former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The complaint, lodged at the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, invokes emergency government decree 2002/31, which criminalises public glorification of individuals convicted of genocide and war crimes, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to three years.

The institute referenced a speech given by Sosoaca in the European Parliament on February 11, where she praised Ceausescu’s foreign policy, describing it as unmatched. She accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of dragging Europe into war and called for her resignation. “You discredit [US President Donald] Trump, you discredit [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, you are at war with everyone,” she said.

IICCMER noted that this was not an isolated incident, citing a vigil organised by SOS Romania in November 2024 to honour Ceaușescu and his wife Elena.

A controversial figure in Romanian and European politics, Sosoaca has drawn attention for her inflammatory rhetoric and disruptive behaviour. 

Once a member of Simion’s AUR, Sosoaca was expelled from the party before founding SOS Romania. The party, which has pro-Russian leanings, remains unaffiliated with any European Parliament group.

In July 2024, she proposed bringing a priest to “sanctify” the European Parliament, claiming it was filled with "devils." Days later, she interrupted a parliamentary session on July 18, shouting accusations at von der Leyen before being removed by order of European Parliament president Roberta Metsola.