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
With less than two weeks to go before Romania votes on its next President, the country’s Constitutional Court has ordered a recount of the first round votes after Elena Lasconi’s Union Save Romania Party was accused of breaking campaign rules. Meanwhile Călin Georgescu, who topped the first round votes, has been accused of having his … Read more
Romania’s top national security officials said Thursday the country was targeted by cyberattacks intended to influence the first round of voting. The role of Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok in manipulating voters is also being scrutinized. Georgescu is scheduled to take on reformist Elena Lasconi in a runoff on Dec. 8. The court decision to … Read more
While those catchy videos were an unexpected vote-winner, Georgescu’s main campaign themes had a classic populist appeal: He cited traditional Christian values, vowed to stand up for people excluded economically, and said he would make Romania more self-sufficient in sectors such as food and energy. Adrian Axinia, vice-president of the far-right Alliance for the Union … Read more
Lasconi said Georgescu, who has campaigned on reducing imports and increasing Romanian domestic food and energy production, wanted to unhitch Romania from the European and international financial mainstream and NATO, leaving the country at Russia’s mercy. Accusing Georgescu of wanting Romania to be isolated like before the 1989 revolution, she summoned up images etched into … Read more
Georgescu, extremely religious and nationalistic, campaigned on reducing Romania’s reliance on imports, supporting farmers, and increasing domestic production of food and energy. He has also argued that the EU and NATO do not properly represent Romanian interests and claimed Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Romanian neighbor, is manipulated by American military companies. A little-known university … Read more
Romania is on track to buck the global trend of a hard-right pivot with reformist candidate Elena Lasconi forecast to beat nationalist George Simion to reach the final round of the country’s presidential election, early exit polls showed Sunday. Romania’s current center-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is set to come out on top in the … Read more
