A hard-right populist takes an unexpected lead in Romania’s presidential race

Romania: Concerns over Romania’s pro-Western trend have been raised by the surprising rise to the top of the presidential campaign of a hard-right populist who is well-known for his anti-European Union and anti-NATO views, according to a report by Al Jazeera on Monday.

When all votes were tabulated, 62-year-old Calin Georgescu got about 23% of the vote, which was somewhat more than center-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s 20%. According to Al Jazeera, far-right leader George Simion came in second with 14%, while center-right candidate Elena Lasconi came in third with over 19%.

According to the preliminary findings, Georgescu, who received 5% of the vote in pre-election opinion surveys, will compete against Ciolacu in a run-off election on December 8.

In an election that was centered on economic difficulties and the rising cost of living, exit polls had previously shown that Ciolacu, the head of the Social Democratic Party, was leading and Lasconi was in second place.
While the mainstream media mostly disregarded Georgescu, who ran as an independent and had a very low profile, he used social media sites like TikTok to reach voters.

According to Al Jazeera, Georgescu, a former member of the right-wing Alliance for Uniting Romanians party, has attacked Romania’s involvement in NATO’s missile defense shield and called for a halt to help Ukraine, calling it a “shame of diplomacy” in a prior interview.

According to Al Jazeera, he also made controversial comments endorsing Ion Antonescu, a leader of Romania during World War II who sided with Adolf Hitler.

Georgescu called the election results a “cry for peace” from the electorate on Sunday.

He reportedly remarked, “And they shouted very loudly, extremely loudly,” according to Al Jazeera.

In the meantime, Romania, which borders Ukraine, has hosted NATO defense systems and offered military assistance to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.