Located just an hour’s drive north of Bucharest, Draganesti is like so many of those villages in the deep Romanian countryside. Houses in poor condition line a few straight streets where 4,000 inhabitants live with a very modest standard of living, even if things are slowly improving thanks in particular to the money of Romanians who have gone to work in Western Europe. The blue star flag flies everywhere to remind us that the European Union (EU) financed the construction of the brand new school, the renovation of the town hall or the tarring of the roads.
“Leaving the EU, I can’t even think about it because it would be such a disaster”summarizes the mayor, Ionut Toma, a young elected official from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the formation of the current Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, eliminated in the first round of the presidential election organized on Sunday, November 24. His village is so attached to the West that he also had the NATO flag hung in front of his town hall, and even in the school hall. “You see, these values are our blood, no one can change them”promises a municipal employee while visiting the site.
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On Sunday, Draganesti nevertheless voted 37% for Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right candidate who came first to everyone’s surprise in Romania and who must face a centrist pro-European candidate, Elena Lasconi, during the second round on Sunday December 8 . “When I saw the Georgescu ballots passing by at the time of counting, I said to myself: we have a problem”says Emil Stan, one of the municipal councilors, still in shock that this stronghold of the PSD was among those which swung the most strongly for Mr. Georgescu in all of Romania.
“Violation of electoral legislation”
“On Saturday, just before the election, I noticed that people were bombarded with messages on TikTok. The profiles just had a photo and video, no personal details. Nobody knew anything about this candidate, but it still visibly convinced many undecided people”testifies this oil platform technician employed on a work-study basis in the Netherlands, taking up the doubts expressed throughout Romania around the role of the Chinese social network. Thursday, November 28, the National Security Council, the highest security body in this country of 19 million inhabitants, officially denounced the “preferential treatment” which benefited Mr. Georgescu on TikTok in “violation of electoral legislation”.
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