Simirad entered politics in 1991 with the Partidul Alianța Civică [ro] (PAC). The following year, he was elected Mayor of Iași, running as a member of the Romanian Democratic Convention. He was re-elected in 1996 with 71% of the vote. He left PAC in 1998 and founded the Partidului Moldovenilor, which he led until 2002.[2] That year, the party merged with the Social Democratic Party (PSD), of which he became vice-president.[3] On 28 November 2003, he left Iași and was appointed Ambassador of Romania to Cuba by PresidentIon Iliescu. Upon his return to Romania in 2006, he retired.
On 28 March 2008, the PSD nominated him to run as President of the Iași County Council.[4] He was elected on 1 June 2008 with 36.5% of the vote. However, he was expelled from PSD in September 2009 after voicing his support for President Traian Băsescu. He then joined National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR). In 2012, he was defeated in his re-election bid for President of the County Council alongside his party's mayoral candidate Tudor Ciuhodaru.