Calin Georgescu, an independent right-wing populist candidate who campaigned primarily on TikTok, won the first round of Romania’s presidential election on Nov. 25.
Georgescu, 62, and Elena Lasconi, leader of the opposition center-right Save Romania Party, advanced to the second round set for Dec. 8.
Marcel Ciolacu, the current prime minister from the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), came in third and missed out on the run-off.
George Simion, a right-wing nationalist from the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), finished in fourth place, with nine other candidates also competing in the field.
Romania’s Central Election Bureau reported that 9.4 million people cast ballots, representing a turnout of 52.4 percent.
Georgescu campaigned against NATO and the European Union. In a 2021 interview, he referred to NATO’s ballistic missile defense shield, located in the Romanian town of Deveselu, as a “shame of diplomacy.”
He has argued that NATO would not protect its members if attacked by Russia and has advocated for closer ties with the Kremlin and reduced support for Ukraine.
Under Romania’s constitution, the president serves a five-year term and holds decision-making powers concerning national security, foreign policy, and judicial appointments.
Georgescu, who holds a PhD in soil science, served as a civil servant in Romania’s Ministry of Environment during the 1990s. From 1999 to 2012, he represented Romania in the United Nations Environment Program.
Between 2000 and 2013, he headed Romania’s National Centre for Sustainable Development and has since reinvented himself as a populist politician.
Georgescu’s TikTok account, which has garnered 1.6 million likes, features him attending church, practicing judo, running, and speaking on podcasts.
Throughout his campaign, he frequently posted short, pointed videos on TikTok, criticizing the European Union, NATO, and Romania’s political establishment.
‘Revolt Against the Establishment’
Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, said Georgescu’s better-than-expected performance was a “large protest or revolt against the establishment.”“The mainstream political parties have lost the connection with regular Romanians,” Andrei said. “You don’t have strong candidates or strong leaders ... there are weak candidates, weak leaders, and the parties in general are pretty much disconnected.”
He said Georgescu lacked a clear agenda and had only a vague and populist manifesto, having taken political positions that were “beyond the normal discourse.”
Georgescu wants to support Romanian farmers, reduce the country’s dependence on imports, and increase production of both food and energy.
Georgescu has described Ion Antonescu, who allied Romania with Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the anti-Semitic Iron Guard in the 1940s, as national heroes.
Simion, a vocal supporter of President-Elect Donald Trump, congratulated Georgescu on his victory and said he was, “very happy that approximately 40 percent of the votes of Romanians went towards the sovereign option.”
Simion had campaigned for unification with neighboring Moldova. Moldova recently renewed a five-year ban on him entering the country over security concerns. He is also banned from Ukraine.
Romania holds parliamentary elections on Dec. 1 to determine the country’s next government and prime minister.
