‘A reliable partner of the EU’
Romanians protest machinations of the Western-backed political elite. The ‘wrong’ candidate won and is barred from standing in the presidential re-run: too pro-Russian.
BUCHAREST/BRUSSELS (own report) – Romania is seeing a growing protest against dubious interventions in the country’s presidential election. The political establishment, supported by Brussels and Berlin, is accused of blatant manipulation. Manipulation began last November in response to the unexpected first-round victory of a presidential candidate regarded as pro-Russian. After strong disapproval signalled by EU leaders and an openly critical intervention by the then US administration under President Joe Biden, Romania’s Constitutional Court declared the election null and void. Now, the NATO-sceptical candidate, an independent politician from the far right, has been barred from standing in the presidential re-run in May. He won the first round at the end of November partly on a peace and anti-corruption ticket, gaining the support of many Romanians who considered corruption to be rife across the Romanian political establishment. The public was already highly critical of their annulment, but the stratagem to exclude a popular candidate is now driving more voters to the extreme right. Such machinations were also evident in neighbouring Moldova at the end of 2024. Pro-Western political forces in one of the poorest countries in Europe won the presidential election by a whisker, thanks to irregularities in voting arrangements for the many Moldovans living abroad: 231 polling stations were set up in Western countries, compared to only two in the whole of Russia.
Manipulating the election process
Călin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election in Romania on 24 November. He received 22.94 per cent of the vote, putting him ahead of the liberal politician Elena Lasconi from the USR party (Uniunea Salvați România; Union for the Salvation of Romania) and in a good position for the run-off. Georgescu does not belong to any party. He takes some extreme right-wing positions and, importantly, calls for urgent talks to end the war in Ukraine, which is why Brussels and Berlin consider him to be pro-Russian. On election day and immediately afterward the authorities announced that the election had been free and fair. However, when Georgescu’s first-round victory became known, accusations of irregularities quickly emerged and demands, amplified by the media, for the outcome to be revised. On 28 November, the Romania’s Constitutional Court ordered a recount of the votes. Yet this did not reveal any anomalies, so on 2 December the court confirmed the validity of the first round of voting. Worried voices were soon raised in the EU: if Georgescu were to win the second round, he could advance “pro-Russian” positions at EU level. The US State Department also intervened. A statement on 4 December expressed American concerns that Georgescu might owe his strong election showing to Russian support. Any shift in Romania’s foreign policy away from the West would have “serious negative impacts on US security cooperation with Romania”.[1] Romania’s Constitutional Court then convened on 6 December and ordered the annulment of the first round of voting.
Resentment at corrupt elites
The actions of Bucharest’s political establishment have appalled sections of the population. Many leaders of Romanian parties were already seen as corrupt. A case in point is the party of Prime Minister Ion Marcel Ciolacu, the officially social democratic PSD (Partidul Social Democrat). The same goes for former President Klaus Johannis, who left office on 12 February after more than ten years in office. Johannis, a representative of the German-speaking minority, cooperated closely with the German Ministry of the Interior.[2] He was awarded the Charlemagne Prize of Aachen in 2020, despite widespread accusations of corruption during his time as mayor of Sibiu (Hermannstadt), from 2000 to 2014. Observers noted that, during this period, he “amassed a huge fortune” through murky channels and was “guilty of forging documents” when acquiring at least one of his numerous properties.[3] The knowledge that he had a luxurious retirement home renovated for millions at taxpayers’ expense did not go down well in a country that is among the poorest in Europe.[4] So Georgescu’s election victory is seen in part as an expression of widespread anger and discontent at the behaviour of the Romanian elite. The decision by the Constitutional Court to annul an election result that people in high places do not like is seen as yet further evidence of sleaze, especially since the court’s President has a close relationship with the PSD leadership.[5]
Upswing for the extreme right
Protests soon followed. Opinion polls show a continuous rise in Georgescu’s popularity, especially because the allegations of active Russian support for his campaign were not substantiated. They are based solely on dubious “classified information” from the secret service. Resentment again surged after Georgescu was detained on 26 February, albeit only temporarily. Romania’s national electoral commission decided on Sunday not to allow him to take part in the presidential re-run, which has been postponed to 4 May, with the second round scheduled for 18 May. The commission’s decision was confirmed by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.[6] According to observers, fury at the deliberate obstruction of a popular candidate who is disliked by both the Romanian, EU and wider Western establishment could result in a consolidation of the previously fragmented far-right scene in Romania. The three largest such parties – the AUR (Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor, Alliance for the Unification of Romanians), S.O.S. România, and the POT (Partidul Oamenilor Tineri, Young People's Party, a split from AUR) – achieved a combined 31.8 per cent of the vote in the parliamentary elections on 1 December 2024. One of Georgescu’s supporters, the former Foreign Legionnaire Horaţiu Potra, is now calling on the army to intervene against the “coup d’état” by the political elite.[7]
‘Romania doesn’t belong to you!’
The EU usually presents itself as a champion of free and democratic elections. But in the case of Romania, there has been no criticism or concern expressed at the undemocratic machinations in Bucharest. Indeed, Brussels welcomes the elimination of a strong candidate who is not pro-Western and favours rapprochement with Russia. Manfred Weber, president of the European People’s Party (EPP) and Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, announced on Facebook at the end of February that the EPP was supporting “its partners in Romania”– including its group member the PNL (Partidul Național Liberal), the party of Klaus Johannis – in their efforts to organise “free and fair elections”.[8] Weber praised Romania as “a reliable partner of the EU”. In the meantime, the growing anger across sections of Romanian society is directed not only against their own corrupt elites but also against the European Union. A slogan could recently be heard at demonstrations in Bucharest referencing Commission President von der Leyen: “Ursula, don't forget, Romania doesn’t belong to you!”[9] Thee are also chants calling on the United States to intervene: “Mr President Trump, we need your help to get our country back”. Vice President JD Vance explicitly criticised the events in Romania in his speech at the Munich Security Conference before meeting with AfD leader Alice Weidel.[10]
Machinations in Moldova
The events in Bucharest are, in a relatively short space of time, the second case of electoral manipulation in south-eastern Europe. Both interventions were designed to prevent the success of a pro-Russian candidate. If they had happened in any other part of the world with the aim of keeping down a pro-Western candidate, they would have been loudly denounced by EU leaders with a suitable display of moral indignation. In Moldova, the pro-Western presidential candidate, Maia Sandu, won the run-off for the office of president on 3 November with 54.3 per cent.[11] This followed a referendum that had resulted in a wafer-thin majority of 50.4 per cent in favour of enshrining the goal of EU accession in Moldova’s constitution. However, neither majority came from within Moldova itself. The narrow lead could only be achieved thanks to the votes cast by the many Moldovans living abroad. And the pro-EU outcome was only possible because the Moldovan government ensured a skewed vote. The pro-Western orientated expat Moldovans predominantly reside in the EU and North America and were provided with a total of 231 polling stations. As for the many Moldovans living in Russia, hundreds of thousands are predominantly pro-Russian. They were offered only two polling stations. Put simply, a large number of pro-Western votes were counted, while a large number of pro-Russian votes were prevented. Again, no complaints were heard from EU leaders.
[1] Statement on Romania’s Presidential Elections. ro.usembassy.gov 04.12.2024.
[2] See: „Etwas deutscher regiert werden“.
[3] Florin Poenaru: Rumäniens europäische Unentschlossenheit. rosalux.de 05.06.2024.
[4] Government Declassifies Spending On Protocol Villa For Iohannis. romaniajournal.ro 07.11.2024.
[5] Michael Martens: Der Mythos von der russischen Einmischung. faz.net 08.01.2025.
[6] Sarah Rainsford, Laura Gozzi: Final ruling bars far-right Georgescu from Romanian vote. bbc.co.uk 11.03.2025.
[7] Michael Martens: Georgescu wehrt sich gegen Ausschluss von der Wahl. faz.net 10.03.2025.
[8] Radu Dumitrescu: Manfred Weber: The European People’s Party stands by its partners in Romania. romania-insider.com 28.02.2025.
[9] Romania’s electoral bureau bars far-right candidate Georgescu from presidential re-run. lemonde.fr 10.03.2025.
[10] See: Die transatlantische extreme Rechte (III).
[11] See: Maidan 2.0.
