who is Călin Georgescu, the far-right pro-Russian candidate who came by surprise at the top of the first round of the presidential election?

1 What is his background before the presidential election?

Călin Georgescu, 62, studied at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest and at the city's National Defense College. He later worked as a university professor, held positions in the country's Ministry of Environment and represented Romania on the national committee of the UN Environment Program.

Although little known, Călin Georgescu is not completely foreign to politics. The AUR proposed him as a candidate for prime minister in 2020 and again in 2021. Party officials changed their minds after he publicly declared being nostalgic for “Romanian greatness” and praised former Romanian dictator and Nazi collaborator Ion Antonescu. Romania's Attorney General's Office opened criminal proceedings against him for his comments which also led to his expulsion from AUR.

2 What are his political opinions?

Călin Georgescu rode the anti-West wave, as in Georgia and Moldova. During his campaign, the Romanian made numerous speeches denouncing “Western rhetoric on the Russian threat”, advocating peace, calling into question support for Ukraine and Romania's membership in NATO. He considers Vladimir Putin one of the “few true leaders of the world” and expresses his admiration for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

He also called for reducing Romania's dependence on imports and supporting the country's farmers to increase domestic production of food and energy.

3 How did he break through?

Like Jordan Bardella during the European elections in France, Călin Georgescu seems to have benefited from his influence on the social network TikTok, where he has 3.4 million followers and where his campaign clips were a hit, sometimes exceeding the million views, even though Romania has less than 20 million inhabitants.