Ultranationalist and pro-Moscow NATO critic calls Romania's presidential election run-off after shocking first-round results that could upend Romanian politics and jeopardize support for Ukraine He will face a centre-right candidate.
With a vote count of 99.98%, independent Karin Georgescu, who praised President Vladimir Putin as “a man who loves his country,” became the runner-up. at 22.9%Elena Lasconi of the reformist Union for the Salvation of Romania (USR) came in second place with 19.17%.
The result is one of the biggest electoral upsets in Romania's post-communist history and has little to do with pre-election polls. Pre-election opinion polls showed Georgescu, a little-known figure, receiving 5% of the vote, with the outgoing prime minister expected to be a center-left pro. -EU's Marcel Ciolak will win easily. Instead, Ciolacu came in third place with 19.15%.
Romania's president has a quasi-executive role that includes important decision-making powers regarding national security, foreign policy, and judicial personnel. The run-off election is scheduled for December 8th, after the parliamentary elections scheduled for next Sunday.
The race is being watched far beyond Romania, which shares a 400-mile border with Ukraine and is seen by Western allies as playing an important strategic role. NATO military basedonated Patriot air defense batteries and provided an important transportation route for millions of tons of Ukrainian grain.
“Tonight, the Romanian people cried for peace. And they cried very loudly, very loudly,” Georgescu, a 62-year-old university professor, said Sunday night. “We are strong and brave. Many of us voted, and many more will vote in the second round.”
Rasconi, a former war correspondent and TV news presenter, joined the center-right Soviet Union in 2018 and became its leader this year. The twice-elected mayor of the small town of Champlun believes in supporting Ukraine by increasing defense spending.
Mr Gheorgescu has left the far-right Alliance of Romania (AUR), which he criticized for its pro-Russian and anti-NATO stance, but has been involved in a viral campaign focused on reducing Romania's need for food and energy imports and cutting off aid to Ukraine. A TikTok campaign was developed. .
The election mainly focused on the rising cost of living in Romania. The Black Sea country has the highest proportion of its population at risk of poverty in the EU, as well as the highest inflation rate and largest budget deficit in the region, amounting to 8% of its economic outlook.
Georgescu said on Facebook after the vote that he was standing “for those who feel like they don't matter, when in fact they feel like they matter the most.” He then said the result was an “extraordinary awakening” of people.
Political consultant Cristian Andrei said the populist score appeared to be a “massive protest or revolt against the system” and that mainstream parties had “lost touch with ordinary Romanians.”
Georgescu, a sustainable development consultant who has worked for several United Nations agencies, called NATO's ballistic missile shield against Romania a “diplomatic embarrassment” and said the alliance cannot protect member states from Russian attack. said.
He also mentioned Romanian leader Corneliu Codreanu. 1930s Fascist Iron Guardand Ion Antonescu, who led a pro-German government during the war and was executed as a national hero for Romania's Holocaust.
Georgescu said in another interview that Romania was not prepared to handle diplomacy or strategy on its own and that its best chance lay with “Russian wisdom.” He has refused to explicitly support Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Political analyst Radu Magdin said the gap between the far-right independent party's single-digit poll popularity and the first round results is unprecedented since Romania broke away from communism in 1989. He said it was. It's a sharp increase compared to the survey,'' Magdin told Reuters.
“The far right is definitely the big winner in this election,” political scientist Christian Pilblesque told Agence France-Presse.
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Unlike neighboring Hungary and neighboring Slovakia, Romania has largely resisted populist nationalism, but about a third of voters on Sunday I voted for a far-right candidate.
The results also further confirm the global trend of ousting incumbent parties. Leaders of Romania's two ruling parties, Ciolac's Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), both lost in the first round.
This is the first time in post-communist Romania's history that the PSD did not field a candidate in the second round of presidential elections. According to the Central Election Administration Bureau, approximately 9.4 million people, or 52.5% of eligible voters, voted.
Simion has been accused of meeting with Russian spies, a charge he denies. Political scientist Serge Myskoiv said the possibility of Russian intervention cannot be ruled out, given Georgeszczyk's position on Ukraine and the discrepancy between opinion polls and results.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it did not fully understand Mr. Georgescu's views, but it “clearly understands” the position of the current Romanian leadership, which Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said is hostile to Russia. said.
Other analysts said Georgescu's shock success could spill over into parliamentary elections scheduled for December 1, in which the winning party will form a stable new coalition government. This suggests that it can be very difficult.
Reuters, Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report
