The news had the effect of an earthquake in Romania. Against all expectations, a pro-Russian candidate came first in the first round of the presidential election while the pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was definitively eliminated, according to the results published this Monday, November 25, 2024
Calin Georgescu, 62 years old garnered nearly 23% of the votes cast. An agricultural engineer by training, the candidate is opposed to aid to Ukraine and he is against NATO. He owes the success of his campaign to his promise to end the war and to his campaign viral on TikTok where this slayer of the war in Ukraine appeared in turn on horseback, in a judoka, at the swimming pool.
The image of a powerful man who reminiscent of the videos of a certain Vladimir Putin in this country firmly anchored in Europe, whose current president is a fervent defender of Ukraine, and which houses 5,000 NATO soldiers on its soil. The Atlantic alliance on which Călin Georgescu also takes aim.
A vote against the current president and his Prime Minister
The economic crisis pushed voters into the arms of this anti-system candidate. Many Romanians also expressed their anger against the outgoing president, the liberal Klaus Iohannis, accused of having taken trips abroad at the expense of the taxpayer. In the second round, on December 8, Călin Georgescu will face Elena Lasconi, an almost unknown center-right mayor of a small town.
Călin Georgescu should profit votes from another far-right candidate who came in fourth position. But before this second round, next Sunday, the Romanians will go to the polls for the legislative elections. So will this surge from the far right be confirmed? If this is the case, the Romania will join its two close neighbors as anti-war, pro-Russian European states : Viktor Orban in Hungary and Robert Fico in Slovakia.
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