Romania’s pro-EU parties appear to have held their own against the far right in Sunday’s parliamentary vote in Romania, according to early results, but while the center-left is in the lead, the far right’s strong presence is significant ahead of the presidential vote on December 8. The strength of the radical vote suggests that an ultranationalist and pro-Russian candidate could win the presidency next week, notes Politico.
Romania has plunged into one of the most intense crises since the fall of communism after Călin Georgescu, a virtually unknown admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, won the first round of the crucial presidential election on November 24, partly on the back of a highly successful campaign on TikTok, Politico reports. Initial signs Sunday night — from exit polls and early results — suggested the traditional political establishment would retain control of parliament, resisting a surge by the far right.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) appeared set to win about a quarter of the vote, ahead of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which is running at just under 20 percent. Ciolacu hailed his party’s strong showing as evidence that the country of 19 million people could stay on its pro-EU trajectory: “It is an important signal that Romanians have sent to the political class: to continue developing the country with European money, but at the same time to protect our identity, national values and faith,” he said.
To govern, the PSD will need to form a coalition that could include the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), its current governing partner, among others.
As for the presidency, the situation is more complex, as neither the PSD nor the PNL qualified for the second round. Instead, it fell to the liberal Elena Lasconi, the reformist leader of the Save Romania Union (USR), to face Georgescu in the second round of the presidential vote on December 8.
On its own, the USR – with an exit poll suggesting support of around 15.5%, but early results suggesting a much lower figure – appears to be some distance away from three far-right parties. In addition to the AUR’s support of just under 20 percent on the far right, polls and early results have shown that another 10-12 percent have gone to two smaller far-right parties. Much will therefore depend on who PSD and PNL voters support next Sunday, explains Politico.
A potential grand political coalition could see Lasconi’s USR team up with Ciolacu’s PSD: She would help him form a majority in parliament, while he would support her for the presidency. However, Lasconi may have trouble swallowing such a toxic pact, given that it would tie her to an institution traditionally tainted by cronyism and corruption. Lasconi has been reserved until the full results are in, limiting her election comments to warning that Georgescu could bring the country back under Russian influence, noting that Moscow “has never done anything good” for Romania. “God bless Romania in the EU and NATO,” she said. “We, united, can do miracles. If we are united, Russian bots on TikTok cannot destroy our democracy,” she said.
AUR leader George Simion said he did not trust exit polls showing his party coming in second place and suggested that far-right parties had actually performed better than they were being shown. “Today the Romanian people voted massively for the sovereignist forces and even more so for what we have wanted since the founding of AUR, exactly 5 years ago: for the PSD and PNL to be removed from the government majority by the vote of Romanians,” he said.
The potential ball in the Romanian electoral cycle is with the Constitutional Court, which has ordered a recount of the votes in the first round of the presidential election following an accusation of fraud by one of the 13 candidates, MEP Cristian Terheş, who obtained about 1% of the vote. The court will meet on Monday to decide whether to annul the first round of the presidential election.
In this case, the entire presidential election would probably have to be rescheduled for mid-to-late December. Such a cancellation would add fuel to the political fire in the country, as it would strengthen suspicions that Romania’s traditional ruling parties – PSD and PNL – are trying to manipulate the vote to give themselves a second chance at the presidency, concludes Politico.