The Partisan webinar “Romanian Election Political Tech Review” offered a deep dive into how political parties leveraged technology and digital strategy during Romania’s 2025 parliamentary elections. The discussion featured three experts directly involved in the campaign—Martina Orlea, Business Operations Lead at Electica; Roxana Pencea-Bradatan, Campaigns Coordinator at Declic; and Tudor Mihailescu, Co-founder of SoSha—and highlighted the evolving interplay between digital tools, AI, and voter mobilisation in a highly competitive environment.

Campaign Strategies: Omni-Channel Digital Approach

Martina Orlea, business operations lead at Electica, shared insights from the pro-EU campaign. Facing tight timelines, the campaign focused on mobilising core supporters through targeted digital channels. Key lessons included the importance of an omni-channel paid strategy, combining Meta platforms, programmatic advertising, and YouTube to both raise awareness and persuade voters.

“For awareness, Meta is cost-effective,” Orlea explained. “But for persuasion, programmatic and YouTube ads offer higher engagement and video completion rates.”

Orlea also emphasised the power of volunteer networks. Starting with no contact lists, the campaign quickly built an engaged community of 15,000 volunteers using Hubspot forms, WhatsApp, and CallHub for phone banking. Volunteers were trained and empowered to contribute meaningfully, turning them into a vital component of the campaign’s outreach.

Civil Society: Countering Disinformation

Roxana Pencea-Bradatan from Declic, Romania’s largest nonpartisan civic platform, highlighted the critical role of civil society in defending democratic processes. Declic mobilised over 5,000 election observers and ran campaigns to counter disinformation on platforms like TikTok and Facebook.

“We saw a lot of fake news and attacks against democratic candidates,” Pencea-Bradatan said. “By combining fact-checking, influencer partnerships, and offline activism like protests, we helped ensure voters had accurate information.”

She stressed the value of community trust, noting that consistent engagement and transparent communication are key to sustaining influence and countering misleading narratives.

AI in Elections: Speed, Scale, and Collaboration

Tudor Mihailescu, co-founder of SoSha, discussed the use of AI tools in the campaign. SoSha enabled rapid content creation, allowing campaigns to respond efficiently to the fast-moving spread of misinformation. AI also helped monitor trends and sentiment online, providing data-driven insights for strategic decisions.

However, Mihailescu noted the dual nature of technology. While AI accelerated voter engagement and messaging, bot networks and coordinated misinformation campaigns posed significant challenges. “The main lesson is that technology must be combined with people and collaboration to defend democracy,” he said.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Political Tech

A recurring theme in the discussion was the balance between technological innovation and human mobilisation. Orlea cautioned against over-reliance on bots, suggesting that offline community building and peer-to-peer communication remain essential, particularly for progressive campaigns.

Pencea-Bradatan echoed this sentiment, highlighting that established digital tools like email, combined with trusted relationships, still outperform experimental AI tools in driving meaningful engagement. Mihailescu added that social networks must better regulate bot activity, but AI agents could play a legitimate role in providing information to voters without masquerading as humans.

The Romanian 2025 elections demonstrated the growing importance of digital strategies, AI, and civil society in modern politics. As campaigns become more technologically complex, the lessons from Romania underscore the need for innovation, transparency, and integrated approaches that combine online and offline engagement.