Populist Georgescu Leads in Romania’s Presidential Election

A hard-right populist candidate, Calin Georgescu, has surged to the lead in Romania’s presidential election, defying pre-election polls and casting doubt on the country’s future alignment with the European Union and NATO, Al Jazeera reports.

With 98 percent of the vote counted, Georgescu secured nearly 23 percent, narrowly edging out centre-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (around 20 percent). Elena Lasconi of the centre-right Save Romania Union followed with nearly 19 percent, and George Simion of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians trailed with 14 percent.

The unexpected results set the stage for a December 8 runoff between Georgescu and Ciolacu. Georgescu, a relatively unknown figure who served in Romania’s Ministry of Environment in the 1990s, enjoyed only around 5 percent support in pre-election polls. His campaign, run largely independently and outside the mainstream media, leveraged social media platforms like TikTok to connect with voters. Exit polls had predicted a Ciolacu victory.

Georgescu’s platform includes statements that contradict Romania’s pro-Western trajectory. He has advocated for ending aid to Ukraine and criticized the presence of a NATO missile defense system on Romanian soil, calling it a “shame of diplomacy” and questioning NATO’s ability to protect its members from a potential conflict with Russia in a 2021 interview.

Celebrating his success, Georgescu declared the vote a “cry for peace,” emphasizing the volume of the people’s demand.