Far-right populist surprises in Romanian presidential election appearing set to enter runoff

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A far-right populist took the lead in Romania’s presidential election Sunday, electoral data showed, and will likely face leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in a runoff in two weeks, an outcome that rocked the country's political landscape.

Calin Georgescu, who ran independently, led the polls with around 22% of the vote, while Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, trailed at 20.6%. Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party, or USR, stood at about 17.4%, and George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, took 14.3%.

After polls closed at 9 p.m. local time (1900GMT), 9.4 million people — about 52.4% of eligible voters — had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau.

Thirteen candidates ran for the presidency in the European Union and NATO member country, and will go to a second round on Dec. 8. The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments.

Georgescu, 62, ran independently and was not widely known. He outperformed most local surveys, sending shockwaves through Romania's political establishment.

After casting his ballot on Sunday, Georgescu said in a post on Facebook that he voted “For the unjust, for the humiliated, for those who feel they do not matter and actually matter the most … the vote is a prayer for the nation.”

Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, told The Associated Press that Georgescu’s unexpected poll performance appears to be a “large protest or revolt against the establishment.”

“The mainstream political parties have lost the connection with regular Romanians,” he said. “You don’t have strong candidates or strong leaders … there are weak candidates, weak leaders, and the parties in general are pretty much disconnected.”

Georgescu lacks an agenda, Andrei added, and has a vague and populist manifesto with positions that are “beyond the normal discourse." His stances include supporting Romanian farmers, reducing dependency on imports, and ramping up energy and food production. He also has a rapidly growing on the social media platform, TikTok.

Ahead of Sunday's vote, many expected to see Simion, a vocal supporter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, face Ciolacu in the second round. He campaigned for reunification with Moldova, which this year renewed a five-year ban on him entering the country over security concerns, and he is banned for the same reason from neighboring Ukraine.

Ecaterina Nawadia, a 20-year-old architecture student, said she voted for the first time in a national election on Sunday and hopes young people turn out in high numbers.

“Since the (1989) revolution, we didn’t have a really good president,” she said. “I hope most of the people my age went to vote … because the leading candidate is not the best option.”

Romania will also hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 1 that will determine the country’s next government and prime minister.

Andrei, the political consultant, said Romania's large budget deficit, high inflation, and an economic slowdown could push more mainstream candidates to shift toward populist stances amid widespread dissatisfaction.

Ciolacu told the AP before the first-round vote that one of his biggest goals was “to convince Romanians that it is worth staying at home or returning” to Romania, which has a massive diaspora spread throughout EU countries.

Other candidates included former NATO deputy general secretary Mircea Geoana, who ran independently and obtained about 6%; and Nicolae Ciuca, a former army general and head of the center-right National Liberal Party, which is currently in a tense coalition with the PSD — who stood at 9.3%.

Geoana, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, told the AP before Sunday's vote that he believed his international experience would qualify him above the other candidates.

Lasconi, a former journalist and the leader of the USR, said she sees corruption as one of the biggest problems Romania faces and that she supports increased defense spending and continued aid to Ukraine.