Having polled in single digits before Sunday’s election first round, independent politician Călin Georgescu, 62, surged to a shock victory that raised questions over how such a surprise had been possible.
Georgescu, who has previously praised 1930s Romanian fascist politicians as national heroes and martyrs, has been critical of NATO and Romania’s pro-Ukraine position, and has said the country should engage, not challenge Russia.
On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Bucharest, chanting: “No Putin, no fear, Europe is our mother,” and “Young people ask you not to vote for a dictator.”
In a stream on social media on Tuesday evening, Georgescu said: “I do not want to leave NATO, I do not want to leave the European Union. What I want, however, is to take a stance, not to kneel over there, not to take everything. Like I said, we should do everything in our national interest.”
TikTok tactics
Georgescu gained many votes from young voters and Romanians living abroad and his campaign was heavily driven by the TikTok platform.
On Tuesday, Romania’s National Audiovisual Council called on the European Commission to investigate the role TikTok played in the vote, due to what it said was “suspicions of manipulation of public opinion.”
Council Vice President Valentin-Alexandru Jucan said it believed the platform’s algorithms had amplified material favorable to a single candidate and that it had lacked transparency about who was sponsoring election content.
A TikTok spokesperson dismissed such concerns.
Foreign interference suspected
Analysts and politicians have said that Georgescu’s surprise win relative to his pre-election polling data indicated foreign interference in the election.
Prior to the vote, Romania’s intelligence agency told lawmakers it had not detected signs that national security was breached.
Georgescu will face centrist contender Elena Lasconi in a run-off on December 8.
