All About Calin Georgescu, Romania’s Pro-Russia Leader Likely To Be Next President

Here are key facts about Romania's far-right presidential candidate

1. Ahead of Sunday's first general election, opinion polls showed independent candidate Georgescu, 62, receiving only a single-digit vote share. But in recent days, his popularity has skyrocketed after his TikTok campaign calling for an end to aid to Ukraine went viral.
2. Gheorgescu is a member of the far-right opposition Union of Romania (AUR), which has promoted him as its candidate for prime minister.
3. He left the AUR in 2022 after party leaders said his pro-Russia and anti-NATO stance had damaged the party's image. Georgescu expressed skepticism about Romania's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
4. In a 2021 interview, Georgescu called NATO's ballistic missile defense shield in Debecer, Romania, a “diplomatic embarrassment” and said the alliance would not protect member states if they were attacked by Russia.
5. He also calls Ion Antonescu and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Romanian national heroes. Antonescu was Romania's de facto World War II leader and was sentenced to death for Romania's involvement in the Holocaust. Codreanu was a leader of the Iron Guard, one of the most violent anti-Semitic movements in Europe before World War II.
6. In a separate speech, Georgescu said Romania was diplomatically and strategically unprepared to deal with anything and that the best chance lay with “Russian wisdom.” However, he has declined to say whether he supports Russia.
7. Russia said on Monday that it did not know much about Georgescu, who is the frontrunner to become the EU member state's next president. “As far as relations with our country are concerned, I cannot say that I know very well the worldview of this candidate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
8. In an unexpected result that threatens Romania's staunchly pro-Ukrainian stance, far-right Georgescu is likely to face centre-right Elena Lasconi in the December 8 presidential run-off. Sunday's result was one of the biggest surprises in post-communist Romania's elections, with the leaders of the two main parties forming a coalition government, the left-wing Social Democratic Party and the center-right Freedom Party, defeated in the first round. .
9. Outgoing two-term president Klaus Iohannis, 65, had solidified Romania's strongly pro-Western stance, but was accused of not doing enough to fight corruption.
10. Romania shares a 650-kilometer (400-mile) border with Ukraine, which has allowed millions of tonnes of grain to be exported through the Black Sea port of Constanta and has been used by the military since Russia attacked Kiev in 2022. has provided assistance. Patriot Air Defense Battery.