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A pro-Russia, far-right politician has won the first round of Romania’s presidential elections on Sunday, according to early results, dealing a major blow to the country’s political establishment.
Călin Georgescu, formerly linked to the radical nationalist AUR party, had run as an independent and was not seen as a frontrunner. As no candidate received more than 50 per cent of the vote, Georgescu will take part in a run-off in two weeks.
“Today, a vote is a prayer for the nation,” Georgescu wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “I voted for the wronged, for the humiliated, for those who feel that they do not matter in this world . . . they are the ones that matter!”
Georgescu secured 23 per cent of the vote, according to early results. Leftist prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, the frontrunner in polls leading up to the vote, secured 19 per cent, with liberal leader Elena Lasconi lagging him by just 3,000 votes.
“Sincerely this is a political earthquake,” Costin Ciobanu, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark. “No one predicted this. A radical right candidate will win the first round and there is a possibility that PM Ciolacu will not make it to the second round.”
Georgescu has previously questioned Romania’s membership of Nato, arguing the country did not see clear benefits from the alliance. He has also criticised the placement of an anti-missile shield in Romania, in statements that echo Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In 2020, he called Putin one of the world’s few “true leaders” and said the Russian president “loved his country”.
“We are strong and brave, many of us voted, even more will do so in the second round,” Georgescu said in a video on Sunday evening.
This is a developing story