Romanian Orban wins

The results of the first circular of presidential elections were announced in Romania. The unexpected leader turned out to be Calin Georgescu, who won 22.86% of the vote, ahead of Prime Minister Marcel Colac with 19.14% and leader of Liberal “Party of Romania's Salvation” Elena Lasconi with 19.17%.

Georgescu is considered the most extremist Romanian politician. He even had to leave the ranks of the right-wing organization “Union for the Unification of Romanians” (AUR) after the scandal: he called the hero the leader of Romanian nationalists from planet War II, Iona Antonescu. In Romania, even a criminal case was initiated in connection with Georgesc's statement. AUR considered it besides much, and Georgescu's dear with 1 of the most right-wing Romanian parties split.

Consequently, he took part in the current election as an independent candidate, and the emphasis in the election run was placed on campaigning through TikTok, which, according to observers, brought Georgesc many points.

By the way, Georgescu has set not on ideology and geopolitics, but on the economy: he called for the protection of the position of Romanian farmers in the interior market, expanding national food and electricity production and so on. In this respect, Georgescu's rhetoric resembles economical rhetoric Donald Trumpwho won the U.S. presidential election or, for example, the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban. Georgescu has repeatedly spoken of the second in the most enthusiastic way, admiring his "ability to defend Hungary's interests internationally".

Georgescu besides admired Vladimir Putin, whom he called “a man who truly loves his country” and “one of the fewer actual leaders” of the modern world.

Georgescu is besides known for his criticism of NATO: in particular, he opposed the deployment of elements of the U.S. rocket defence strategy in Romania, argued that the U.S. ‘missile shield’ was created to defend the United States alternatively than Romania, and for Romania, on the contrary, poses an additional risk. And during Georgescu's election campaign, he said it was not worth counting on NATO due to the fact that this alliance "was not yet able to defend anyone."

After 2022 Georgescu repeatedly opposed Western aid to Ukraine. Georgescu so looks like a typical typical of the “new European right” as Orbán, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, leader of the Dutch Freedom organization Geert Wilders German alternate to Germany.

Georgescu himself, commenting on the election results, has already stated that “Romania has awakened”, but it is at least besides early to celebrate the victory.

Before him the second round, in which he will face Elena Lasconi, who lost little than 3% to him in the first round. Lasconi is simply a typical of the Union for the Salvation of Romania, a classical Euroliberal organization with a slight deviation to the left. Lasconi is known for Russia's harsh criticism and even accused the current Romanian authorities of besides passive support of Ukraine. Lasconi specifically called for the shooting down of Russian drones flying towards Romania with Romanian air defense.

In the second circular Lasconi will most likely be able to number on any of the votes cast in the first circular at the incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Colac (which, let us remind, has 19.14%). Georgescu, however, can number on the support of EU leaders to unite the Romanians George Simion, who obtained 13.87% of the vote. A simple summation of percentages shows that Lasconi appears to have an advantage (19,17 + 19,14 = 38,32 versus 22,86 + 13,87 = 36,73 for Georgescu + Simion), but the difference is besides tiny to be certain to foretell the results.

However, elections in Romania confirm that European politicians are increasingly inferior to right-wing leaders. And Trump's triumph in the U.S. elections can further strengthen this trend in Europe. For Ukraine, this trend is worrying, due to the fact that the right is usually negative in helping Kiev in the war.

At podst. strana.ua