Romania: Surprise First Round for Calin Georgescu

The results are not yet final, but the first round of Romania’s presidential election has produced a double surprise, according to real-time data released by the Romanian Electoral Service (AEP).

The first is the victory of candidate Calin Georgescu, who favors constructive relations with Russia, and the second is the possible exclusion of the current social-democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu from the ballot.

With 99.98% of the votes counted, the difference between second and third place rose to 2130 votes in favor of Elena Lasconi, also considered right-wing, who will go into the second round of the presidential election with Calin Georgescu. The results are hypothesized to be as follows: Calin Georgescu: 2,120,163 – 22.95%, Elena Lasconi: 1,771,542 – 19.17%, Marcel Ciolacu: 1,769,412 – 19,15%.

No one lists independent candidate Georgescu among the favorites, but it is he who will run for president in the December 8 runoff that will follow the December 1 parliamentary elections: two very hot weeks for Bucharest’s political future.

Only in fourth place was George Simion, known as a fan of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump. He was supposed to be one of the favorites, but received only 14% of the vote, ahead of former Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, who was stuck at 9%.