A pro-Russian and far-right politician has won the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, shaking the country's political establishment, writes the Financial Times on Monday morning.
Călin Georgescu, a former member of the radical nationalist party AUR, ran as an independent and was not considered a favorite. However, Georgescu will now participate in the finals in over two weeks, writes the Financial Times.
If he wins, Georgescu will hold the most powerful position in Romania, with the right to appoint the prime minister, conduct coalition negotiations and have the last word in matters of security and foreign policy, the financial daily emphasizes.
“This is a political earthquake,” Costin Ciobanu, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark, told the newspaper. “No one predicted this. A candidate of the radical right will win the first round and there is a possibility that Prime Minister Ciolacu will not make it to the second round”, he said, in the interview given just before Lasconi really surpassed Ciolacu and entered the final with Georgescu.
The elections took place in a context of dissatisfaction with the status quo, with Ciolacu's coalition government facing accusations of corruption and mismanagement of the country, writes the Financial Times.
Admiration for Putin
The newspaper also makes a short portrait of the winner of the first round of the elections.
Georgescu previously contested Romania's NATO membership, arguing that the country did not see clear benefits from the alliance. He also criticized the placement of the anti-missile shield in Romania, in statements that echoed the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the financial daily writes.
In 2020, Georgescu called Putin one of the few “true leaders” in the world and stated that the Russian president “loves his country”.
During the period in which he was an honorary member of the AUR, Georgescu attracted general condemnation for supporting Romanian far-right leaders of the past. He also referred to the pro-Nazi dictator of Romania, Ion Antonescu, under whose rule hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, as a “martyr”, writes the Financial Times.
In this weekend's presidential poll, AUR leader George Simion came fourth with 13%, while other candidates, such as former prime minister Nicolae Ciucă and former NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană, recorded less than 10% of the vote each.
