Romania: Centre-Left PM, Hard-Right Calin Georgescu Shockingly In A Tie
Bucharest, Romania: In a shock-result, Calin Georgescu, a hard-right populist known for his opposition to the European Union and NATO has surged into the lead in Romania’s presidential election, throwing away the country’s pro-Western outlook into doubt. With 98 percent of ballots counted, Georgescu, running as an Independent, had nearly 23 percent of the vote, slightly ahead of centre-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu with about 20 percent, as per partial results from the Central Electoral Bureau showed on Sunday.
Third comes, Elena Lasconi of the centre-right Save Romania Union party, with nearly 19 percent, followed by George Simion of the far-right Alliance from the Unity of Romanians party with 14 percent. The partial results put Georgescu, on track to face off against Ciolacu in a run-off vote on December 8.
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The lead comes as Georgescu, a relatively unknown figure who held a number of positions in Romania’s Ministry of Environment during the 1990s, had attracted only about 5 percent support in opinion polls ahead of the election. Georgescu was largely absent from mainstream media and relied heavily on social media platforms such as TikTok to reach voters.
Exit polls had shown Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, in the lead and Lasconi in second place in a race which was dominated by the economy and the rising cost of living.
Georgescu, a former member of the right-wing populist Alliance for Uniting Romanians party, has called for an end to aid for Ukraine, and criticised the presence of a NATO missile defence station on Romanian soil. he called it a “shame of diplomacy” and said the North Atlantic alliance would not protect its members during attack from Russia. He made the comment during an interview given in 2021.
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He has also grabbed headlines over his views on Romania’s past. He said that Ion Antonescu, the country’s World War II-era leader who joined forces with Adolf Hitler, should be seen as a national hero.
On the unexpected lead, Georgescu said the vote showed that the people had “cried out for peace”. “And they shouted very loudly, extremely loudly,” he said.
Romania, is an EU and NATO member, and shares a 650km-long (400 miles) border with Ukraine and has experienced repeated breaches of its airspace by Russian drones. The country has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, providing Kyiv with military aid, including a Patriot air defence battery, and establishing a training centre to train Ukrainian marines.
