Far-right candidate takes shock lead in Romania presidential election.
Preliminary results from Romania's presidential election put the far-right nationalist, Calin Georgescu, in surprise first place (file photo).
The strong showing of Georgescu, who has no party of his own and campaigned largely on the social media platform TikTok, came as the biggest surprise of the election.
A far-right, pro-Russia candidate has taken a surprise lead in the first round of Romania's presidential election.
He previously condemned the Nato ballistic missile defence shield based at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania as "a disgrace".
Campaigning in this election focused largely on the soaring cost of living, with Romania having the EU's biggest share of people at risk of poverty.
The president in Romania has a largely symbolic role but considerable influence on areas such as foreign policy. »