Far-right anti-Western candidate wins first round of Romanian presidential election

The ultra-nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu is leading the presidential election in Romania with 22.95%. Romania held voting in the first round of the presidential election on November 24.

Contrary to forecasts, Georgescu has finished in first place in the first round. Particularly, a poll by the sociological company INSCOP indicated that the leadership of leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the head of the opposition far-right party AUR, George Simion, would face off in the second round.

Far-right Georgescu wins with 22.95%, pro-EU liberal Lasconi comes second with 19.17%

Elena Lasconi came second with 19.17%, with a tiny margin ahead of Ion-Marcel Ciolacu.

The leader of Romania’s leading opposition party, the Union for the Salvation of Citizens (USR), Elena Lasconi, is a pro-Western liberal.

Such powerful candidates as former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă (8.79%) or former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană (6.32%) are out of the second round.

Given that if Georgescu and Lasconi have made it to the second round, the election will turn into a geopolitical confrontation. The opponent of the pro-Russian candidate could consolidate all the eligible voters in Romania and win.

After counting 100% of the votes, the following results were announced:

• CĂLIN GEORGESCU – 22.95%
• ELENA-VALERICA LASCONI – 19.17%
• ION-MARCEL CIOLACU – 19.15%
• GEORGE-NICOLAE SIMION – 13.87%
• NICOLAE-IONEL CIUCĂ – 8.79%
• MIRCEA-DAN GEOANĂ – 6.32%
• HUNOR KELEMEN – 4.51 %
• CRISTIAN DIACONESCU – 3.1 %
• CRISTIAN-VASILE TERHEȘ – 1.04 %

Georgescu made statements beneficial to the Kremlin

As noted by Politico, Georgescu, who is extremely religious and nationalistic, campaigned on reducing Romania’s dependence on imports, supporting farmers, and increasing domestic food and energy production.

Georgescu asserted that American military companies manipulated Russia’s war in Ukraine, Romania’s neighbor, and that the EU and NATO did not adequately represent Romanian interests.

He criticized NATO and the EU, criticizes the deployment of American bases in Romania, and calls Russia’s war against Ukraine a conspiracy of American arms companies.

Such statements align with Russian propaganda objectives in the West, despite the fact that it was Russia who launched the war, invading Ukraine.

Georgescu openly glorifies the times when Romania was an ally of the Nazis under the dictator Antonescu, whom he considers a “martyr.”

Factors of success

A university professor, he used TikTok to rally voters around him. The far-right candidate drew harsh criticism for his previous comments supporting Romania’s 20th-century fascist legionary movement.

It seems that most of the votes that Georgescu received were from the protest electorate, which did not like the activities of the large coalition of mainstream parties: the Social Democrats (the presidential candidate is the current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu) and the National Liberals (the candidate is former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă).

Upon seeing the word “independent” on the ballot, the entire protest electorate cast their votes in favor of him, a move that is somewhat reminiscent of Germany, where opponents of the grand coalition of the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats began to vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany.

The current president, National Liberal Klaus Iohannis, has served two terms in office, so he could not run in the election.