Most Romanian polls had Călin Georgescu finishing under 10%. He finished first. With nearly all ballots counted after Sunday’s vote, the independent candidate stood at around 22.95%, according to NBC News, and was headed to a December runoff against Elena Lasconi.
Lasconi, leader of the Save Romania Union (USR), took 19.17%. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) landed at 19.15%, so close behind that the BBC put the gap at around 2,000 votes. George Simion, head of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), collected 13.87%. The runoff is set for Dec. 8.
The party that missed the cut
For the first time in Romania’s 35-year post-communist history, the PSD has no candidate in a presidential second round. NBC News called it a huge blow to the country’s most powerful party. Ciolacu, the pre-election favourite, tendered his resignation as Social Democrat leader on Monday morning.
The Central Election Bureau said 9.4 million people voted, about 52.5% of eligible voters. The BBC gave turnout as 51%, close to the figure five years ago. Abroad, Georgescu won 43.3% of the vote in Romania’s large diaspora, against 26.8% for Lasconi.
Political commentator Radu Magdin told the BBC the surge had no precedent. “Never in our 34 years of democracy have we seen such a surge compared to surveys,” he said. Earlier opinion polls had placed Georgescu around 5%.
Who Georgescu is
Georgescu is 62 and has no party of his own. His website says he holds a doctorate in pedology, a branch of soil science, and that he held several posts in Romania’s environment ministry in the 1990s. From 1999 to 2012 he represented Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.
His campaign ran mostly on TikTok, where his videos have drawn 1.7 million likes even though NBC News said he has no clear political agenda. His slogan was “Restore the dignity of the Romanian nation.” The BBC described him as ultranationalist and pro-Russia, and reported that Russian media welcomed his result. He has called the NATO missile defence shield at the Deveselu base in southern Romania “a disgrace.”
He was once a prominent figure in Simion’s AUR, which expelled him as too radical after he praised leaders of the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist movement during World War Two. Late on Sunday night, Simion nonetheless endorsed him and asked the 1.3 million people who voted for Simion to back Georgescu in the runoff.
After voting, Georgescu posted on Facebook that his vote was “for the unjust, for the humiliated, for those who feel they do not matter and actually matter the most.”
Lasconi’s challenge
Lasconi, a former journalist, ran on an anti-corruption platform. She told The Associated Press before the vote that corruption was among the biggest problems Romania faces, and that she supported higher defense spending and continued aid to Ukraine. A win would make her the first woman to hold Romania’s presidency.
The BBC noted that many PSD supporters, especially in rural areas, may struggle to back a liberal, progressive candidate like her. The campaign itself centred on the soaring cost of living, with Romania having the EU’s biggest share of people at risk of poverty. Resentment over handouts to Ukrainian refugees also played a part.
Romania’s president serves a five-year term and holds real weight on national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments. Parliamentary elections on Dec. 1 will decide the next government and prime minister.
Sources
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Sources
- Romania in shock after little-known, far-right populist enters…
- Far-right candidate takes shock lead in Romania presidential election
