A country in the grip of election chaos – Romania

My article today is about Romania, a country caught up in election fever. If this were an ordinary election, I would not be writing about it. But below, you will understand how important these elections (presidential and parliamentary) are for the future of the country and the region.

As I was writing this, I learned that the first round of the presidential elections in Romania had been annulled. So, why did the Constitutional Court of Romania make such a decision?

On November 24, the first round of the presidential elections was held in Romania, and the results caused a major surprise. To put it more accurately, it created a shockwave. Independent candidate Calin Georgescu, a pro-Russian and far-right politician who was almost unknown on the Romanian political scene, took first place with approximately 23% of the vote. He was followed by Elena Lasconi, the candidate for the USR (Save Romania Union) and a supporter of NATO and the EU, who gathered 19.18% of the total valid votes cast.

Pre-election public opinion polls did not even place Georgescu among the top 4 candidates. The results caused astonishment across the entire country. Political analysts, sociologists, and journalists are still trying to understand how Georgescu managed to reach first place. In short, we can say it is the use of technopolitics combined with non-transparent funding. Georgescu's success stems from the TikTok platform, where a network of accounts linked to anti-Western and pro-Russian sympathizers was discovered. The election campaign was conducted solely online, without any campaign headquarters or press office. Both the internet medium used by candidate Georgescu and the message he sent were the most important factors that carried him to first place.

This candidate did not offer any solutions to Romania's urgent problems and did not mention the necessary reform package. However, his message focused on specific topics: Water and life energy, spirituality and mysticism, manipulations regarding the vaccination of humanity, the Romanian peasantry, and ancestral traditions. It was a mixture of populist ideas about Romania being a beacon for the world; Romania and its cosmic mission, sovereignty, patriotism, etc., peace in Ukraine, criticisms of the EU, the importance of religion, and global opposition. Georgescu is the person who initiated and spoke about various conspiracy theories, such as denying the existence of cancer and demonizing chemotherapy or vaccines.

Some Romanian commentators declared that this is a product of the late Ceaușescu era and the secret service system that has existed since then. There were even commentators who compared this to the anti-state Gülen movement in Turkey. One of the most well-known Romanian journalists, Cristian Tudor Popescu, did not hesitate to say: "For Putin, Calin Georgescu is the perfect character to be at the head of the Romanian state".

WHY IS ROMANIA CURRENTLY IN ELECTION CHAOS?

On December 2, the Constitutional Court of Romania approved the first round of the presidential election, noting that there were no flaws in the election process. On December 4, however, the President of Romania decided to declassify a series of documents prepared by the country's intelligence and security services. These showed that Russia might have been involved in the election process in Romania, and also that Calin Georgescu might have received help from outside the country to promote himself during his election campaign. Public opinion in Romania directly accuses Russia of organizing a hybrid war in Romania and believes that Russia was involved in this election campaign. Its goal would be to create chaos in one of the most important countries on NATO's eastern flank.

On the night of the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, the Moscow press ran headlines about Calin Georgescu as a "candidate compatible with Russia". His victory on November 24 was welcomed with enthusiasm in many Russian propaganda outlets, including Sputnik, Russia Today, and RIA Novosti.

Even the parliamentary elections held on December 1 did not yield optimistic results for Romanians. The PSD (Social Democratic Party), which received 23 percent of the votes, will try to form a coalition government because it could not secure a majority. Far-right parties won about 32 percent of the seats in parliament. Here, it is also necessary to mention the doubling of the score of the AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), a far-right populist party that is making itself heard increasingly strongly in Romania.

Following these elections, we see how much of a political and democratic impasse Romania, a NATO country and EU member, has entered. However, the election results (parliamentary election) can be explained by the presence of many factors. In the 90s, Romania tried to break away from its communist past, for which many Romanians are still nostalgic. Accession to the EU led to changes in Romanian society. However, some results of the reforms at the state level appeared late. High levels of poverty, migration, and corruption (according to Transparency International, Romania ranks 63rd out of 180 countries in the Corruption Index) are the country's biggest problems. Romania has the lowest number of higher education graduates among all European countries. The education system has deteriorated over time. Thousands of young people are leaving the country in order to find better jobs. The demographic structure is increasingly changing in a negative sense.

These conditions create fertile ground for the rise of far-right candidates and parties that are populist in essence. The rise of the far right in Romania fits perfectly into the general political environment of Europe.

Clearly, difficult days await Romania. A new date will likely be set for the presidential election, for which there will probably be other candidates as well. NATO's Eastern flank and EU member Romania will go through a turbulent period in the coming months. Therefore, we will all witness an indirect clash between both the West and Russia in this country.