The scuttled election between Georgescu — a pro-Russia, anti-EU and anti-NATO candidate — and Elena Lasconi, his center-right pro-EU challenger, was seen as pitting East against West in the country. Georgescu’s prior praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his threats to halt aid to Ukraine prompted fears that his victory would see Romania drawn deeper into the Kremlin’s … Read more
“This investigation will also assess any causal links between those payments and a particular candidate in the Romanian presidential election,” said Toni Greblă, the head of the electoral office, about the tax probes. One key figure under investigation is Bogdan Peșchir, who allegedly funded the influencers on TikTok with €1 million. Last week, authorities raided … Read more
Georgescu is an ultranationalist who has no party and was a little-known political figure until he shot into the lead in the first round of voting after what authorities said was a coordinated foreign hybrid attack attempting to sway the election. Prosecutors raided three properties in the city of Brașov, in the mountainous Transylvania region, … Read more
President Iohannis received evidence from the secret intelligence services indicating that both state and non-state actors had interfered in the election, and naming Russia as responsible for a series of aggressive hybrid attacks. The U.S. endorsed the findings of Russian involvement. Acting on the intelligence, Iohannis declassified secret files that alleged Georgescu had unlawfully benefited from … Read more
“Today is the moment when the Romanian state trampled over democracy. God, the Romanian people, the truth and the law will prevail and will punish those who are guilty of destroying our democracy,” she said immediately after the annulment. Nicolae Ciucă, the head of the Romanian senate and the National Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in … Read more
According to the latest polling from Atlas Intel, Georgescu is on 47 percent, a lead of four points over Lasconi on 43 percent support. Georgescu’s dramatic transformation has shocked Romania’s Western allies, with analysts warning that Russian bots may have amplified his campaign on social media in a highly targeted and effective influence operation. Speaking … Read more
The coalition means that the four parties, and the ethnic minority representatives, will together hold a majority in parliament and will be able to push for a prime minister from among their ranks. There will still be further talks about what the parliamentary coalition’s governance aims will be, and who will be prime minister, though … Read more
The parliamentary vote comes amid a political crisis sparked by last Sunday’s unexpected victory by Călin Georgescu, an ultranationalist, Russia-admiring independent candidate for president. In a potential signal of how the second presidential round could go, the far-right momentum that boosted Georgescu was also visible in the parliamentary vote. In addition to AUR, two other … Read more
“A part of the electorate continues to believe in old conspiracy theories or developed new ones,” Magdin said. But the man who brought the court case, Cristian Terheș, a member of the European Parliament, who ran for president and received about 1 percent of the vote, sees no conspiracy at play. Whatever the result of … Read more
On Sunday, Romanians vote in crucial parliamentary elections, with polls showing hard-right parties on track to bag a third of the ballots, riding on the momentum created by Georgescu who surged in the polls out of nowhere last Sunday to secure a shock win. The stakes are high. An outright victory for the far-right presidential … Read more
