Romania: President wanted to solve a massive political crisis

BerlinRomanians return to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president. that can lead Romania out of the worst political crisis the country has experienced since the 1989 Revolution, which marked the end of Nicolae Ceausescu's communist dictatorship and the arrival of democracy. If no candidate receives enough votes to govern alone, the runoff will be held on May 18.

Romania repeats the elections after the annulment of the November 2024 presidential elections. for alleged Russian interference in the election campaign and by the Constitutional Court's veto of the pro-Russian populist candidate Calin Georgescu, who has been barred from running for that very reason. The resignation of President Klaus Iohannis in February, just as the Romanian Parliament was about to vote on his suspension, added further confusion to the already murky political situation in the European country. Far-right candidate George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), is the favorite in the presidential race. Although Simion finished fourth in the November 2024 elections, he now appears to have secured a place in the runoff, if the polls hold true. The far-right candidate is hoping to attract Georgescu's voters, angered by the annulment of the November elections and the disqualification of their candidate.

The AUR leader is a controversial candidate. He gained popularity for his anti-vaccine stance during the Covid-19 pandemic.He admires US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He is barred from entering Ukraine and Moldova for having made territorial claims related to these countries. He is a Eurosceptic and opposes aiding Kiev in the wake of Russia's war of aggression. Simion could face former liberal leader Crin Antonescu; Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan; or former Prime Minister Victor Ponta in the runoff, depending on who receives the most votes.

Antonescu, married to former European Commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean, is the candidate of the coalition of governing parties: the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Hungarian Minority Party. Dan, the mathematician and mayor of Bucharest, is running in this election as a centrist independent. He has a following in the capital and other cities, but not in rural Romania, where he is unknown to most Romanians. And Victor Ponta, who served as Prime Minister of Romania from May 2012 to November 2015, is now the leader of the populist platform Romania First. The former Prime Minister promises that, If elected president, he will stop the export of Ukrainian grain through Romanian ports.

Meanwhile, the liberal-conservative candidate Elena Lasconi made it to the second round of the November elections with a pro-European campaign, but is now fifth in the polls. Her own party has withdrawn its support. Union to Save Romania (USR) is now supporting the mayor of Bucharest, who this time has a better chance of making it to the second round.

Taking all this into account, the ultra-right candidate would obtain 31% of the vote; Antonescu, 25%; the mayor of Bucharest, 23%; Ponta, 12%; and Lasconi, 7%, according to the latest published poll. This would mean going to a second round.

The EU and NATO are waiting for the result.

The European Union and NATO will have their eyes on Bucharest. Romania, with 19 million inhabitants, has been governed since 2021 by a coalition of Social Democrats and Liberals. This country, a member of NATO since 2004 and the European Union since 2007, has had a central role in supporting Ukraine in the wake of Russia's war of aggression. If Simion wins, he has promised to withdraw military support for Kiev.

If Romania veers to the far right, it would join the club of EU countries with far-right governments: from Hungary and Slovakia to Italy, Finland, and the Netherlands.

Georgescu won the first round of the November 2024 presidential elections with 22.94% of the vote, followed by Lasconi with 19.17%. The pro-Russian and pro-European candidates did not face each other in the runoff election, as the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round in early December and ordered a rerun of the entire election, following the publication of reports on alleged Russian interference in the elections.

Thanks to an election campaign focused on social media and viral videos on TikTokIn just a few weeks, Georgescu went from being a pro-Russian politician virtually unknown to his compatriots to pulling off a surprise victory and making it to the second round. Both Georgescu and Moscow deny any Russian interference in the elections.