Georgescu, who has called Nato’s ballistic missile defence shield a ‘shame of diplomacy’, will likely head into a run-off with leftist prime minister Marcel Ciolacu

Summary

Far-right populist Calin Georgescu led Romania’s presidential election with 22% of the vote, narrowly ahead of leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (21%), setting up a runoff on December 8.

Georgescu’s unexpected rise, driven by anti-establishment sentiment, has disrupted the political landscape.

His vague populist platform includes boosting local production and criticizing NATO. Analysts suggest his surge reflects voter dissatisfaction, with some suspecting potential Russian influence.

The election, marked by moderate turnout (52.4%), occurs amid economic challenges, high inflation, and tensions from Romania’s proximity to Ukraine’s war zone.

  • acargitz@lemmy.caEnglish
    71·
    6 hours ago

    Western Europeans after repeatedly denying Romania entry to the Schengen zone: “why would anti-European politicians be popular there?”.

    Ps. My argument works even with alleged Russian interference baked in. Austrian and Dutch intransigence create the fertile ground for Russian arguments to catch.

    • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      4 hours ago

      First off, Romania (and Bulgaria) are in Schengen, sea and air borders are already open and land borders will be sometime earlyish next year, secondly, their qualm isn’t with the rest of Europe but Austria, Austria, and Austria alone, where politicians were playing the whole thing for xenophobia points instead of sticking to the rules. Romania has never been confused about who was to blame, they recalled their ambassador, Romanian companies were boycotting Austria, the whole shebang. The rest of the EU had their back, and Austria caved. Well, at least in the concrete matter I doubt it made a dent in their xenophobia.