The Daily Populous Monday November 25th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by Deedogg11

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 latest count suggests Lasconi is narrowly ahead of Ciolacu by around 2,000 votes and will face Georgescu in a final run-off for the presidency on 8 December.

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.

With more than 99% of votes counted, ultranationalist Calin Georgescu was on 23%, followed by centre-right candidate Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union and populist social democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the pre-election favourite.

A far-right, pro-Russia candidate has taken a surprise lead in the first round of Romania's presidential election.

Ciolacu tended his resignation as leader of the Social Democrats on Monday morning.

Political commentator Radu Magdin said the support for Georgescu was unprecedented, with earlier opinions polls placing him at around 5% of the vote.

"Never in our 34 years of democracy have we seen such a surge compared to surveys," Mr Magdin said.

The victory of Georgescu, who campaigned under the slogan "Restore the dignity of the Romanian nation", has been warmly welcomed in Russian media.

He previously condemned the Nato ballistic missile defence shield based at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania as "a disgrace".

Georgescu was a prominent figure in another far-right party, George Simion’s AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), which eventually expelled him as too radical, after he praised leaders of the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist movement during World War Two.

But late on Sunday night, George Simion endorsed Georgescu, and urged the 1.3 million voters who voted for him on Sunday to support Georgescu in the run-off.

Georgescu’s success poses a dilemma for the millions of Romanians who voted for other candidates.

If Elena Lasconi gets through to the second round, as expected, many supporters of the Social Democrats, especially in rural areas, would find it difficult to support such a liberal, progressive figure.

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. Resentment of handouts to Ukrainian refugees in Romania also played a role.

The president in Romania has a largely symbolic role but considerable influence on areas such as foreign policy.

Turnout was 51%, similar to the figure five years ago.

wei53 on November 25th, 2024 at 06:04 UTC »

The irony of a anti-EU candidate getting almost half the votes from the largely EU diaspora.

shaynaro on November 25th, 2024 at 03:30 UTC »

Romanian here. People saying "no shock" and "far right has been wining everywhere", you have no idea how insane it is. This guy joined the race in august, he polled around 7% since in like 8th position. He got 1st position with 23%!

He wasn't even invited to debates. He had no billboards, he had no commercials, no party - nothing. This was pure social medial and even that was mostly TikTok. He was a fringe candidate for all intents and purpose. The whole country is in shock and doesn't understand how everyone could be not even remotely right.

This would be like Cornel West, winning over Trump and Harris.

And to see whom he emulates: https://packaged-media.redd.it/avl5nfzswx2e1/pb/m2-res_854p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1732510800&s=a6580f0e6e3da1151caeaeb4c19877a8c88441cb

Edit: To all asking, yes, at least in terms funding and social media bots, Russia is likely behind him. The Russian state media Ria Novosti mentioned him today saying he is "Russia aligned candidate". This candidate is antiNato, antiEU, he invited multiple times Alexander Dugin to Romania. The better question is if/what other internal forces in Romania are helping him.

Marchello_E on November 25th, 2024 at 03:03 UTC »

> 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.

Getting "informed" via TikTok... welcome to the new age.