The scrutiny of the Romanian presidential elections was a surprise this Sunday night and indicated that the social democratic candidate and current Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, and the unknown candidate Calin Georgescu will compete in the second round on December 8, with around 22% of the votes each and a slight advantage for Georgescu (21.99% compared to 21.33%), with 89.46% of the ballots scrutinized. None of the candidates would exceed the necessary 50%, so I know they will face each other in the final round. The second in the exit polls, the journalist Lasconi, obtained 16.37%, while the leader of the extremist party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, fell to fourth position with 14. .55%. The head of state is a token figure who is only in charge of foreign policy and national security, in addition to appointing the heads of intelligence services and key prosecutors.
The mobilization of Romanians abroad may still impact the result. “Not everything has been decided yet, there are more than 800,000 votes from abroad, 8% of the count and we do not know how those votes are going to be distributed among the candidates,” warned Cristian Pantazi, a journalist from .
“In the next period I will have to talk to each candidate to collect all the good things about their programs,” Ciolacu declared at the close of the polls before emphasizing that he carried out a hate-free campaign and will continue to do so in the face of his duel against his unexpected rival.
“It is a surprising awakening of conscience,” said Georgescu after knowing the exit polls, which gave him third place. The candidate considered pro-Russian stressed that “the Romanian people, when alone, will win.” Georgescu has an anti-European and nationalist discourse and rejects that there may be foreign companies in the country that exploit Romanian resources, the same type of message that the communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, spread.
Lasconi, a 52-year-old former television communicator and center-right mayor of Campulung, a small city located 150 kilometers from Bucharest, when she thought that the second round would be held with the prime minister, nevertheless asked to be vigilant: “Great attention in all electoral colleges, every vote counts. “It is essential to stay there and defend the votes of the Romanians.”
Ciolacu always believed that it would be better to confront the far-right politician Simion, who questioned the exit polls. “Tonight we demand entry into the second round of the presidential elections. “I am going to ask them (citizens) to turn off the televisions, especially those that show an unknown person in front of us,” said the far-right politician, visibly angry, before denouncing fraud: “We are the biggest threat to this system. “We saw the greatest violation of the electoral law.”
During the campaign, the 38-year-old candidate softened his anti-European nationalist rhetoric—he calls Brussels a “corrupt bubble” and opposes the rights of the LGTBI community—and acknowledged being an admirer of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, and Donald Trump, winner of the US presidential elections. That favorable wind that the victory of the New York tycoon in Simion’s aspirations could have generated has not been enough to attract more ultra-conservative voters.
The formation of Ciolacu, 56, lacks a social democratic orientation. He generally adopts right-wing populist and nationalist positions mixed with a left-wing stance on social and economic issues. However, his influence in the rural and less developed regions of the country can give him the victory that his political faction has so desired since he lost the presidential elections in 2004. “I have voted for an economically strong Romania, with a strong voice in the world, where “Romanians can have a dignified life and for the greatest possible number of victories like the one a few days ago: full accession to the Schengen area,” said the leader after exercising his right to vote in Bucharest.
Voters in the sixth largest state in the European Union in terms of population – some 19 million inhabitants – have shifted in recent years towards nationalist formations as has never happened since the fall of communism almost 35 years ago.
The presidential campaign has been marked by personal attacks. The far-right leader was accused of meeting with Russian spies, a claim he has denied, while the prime minister, who governs in coalition with the National Liberal Party (PNL), is in the spotlight for controversial flights on private jets financed by entrepreneurs. But, despite his low popularity rating, Ciolacu has tried to project a message of stability through an image of a humble and self-taught man.
