Pro-Putin populist’s victory in Romania polls worries West

Calin Georgescu, 62, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and argues the “imperialist” Western military-industrial complex is behind the Ukraine war.

Independent candidate Calin Georgescu, 62, is the surprise winner of the first round of presidential elections in Romania. Picture: AFP

A hardline anti-NATO nationalist has won the first round of Romania’s presidential election, sowing uncertainty about the political future of a pivotal state on the alliance’s eastern flank.

Calin Georgescu, 62, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and argued that the “imperialist” Western military-industrial complex is behind the Ukraine war, won about 23 per cent of the vote.

“The Romanian people cried out for peace. And they shouted very loudly, extremely loudly,” he said as the results came in, hailing “an amazing awakening” of his countrymen.

Mr Georgescu beat two pro-Western candidates, Elena Lasconi, a centrist liberal who will face him in the second round on December 8, and Marcel Ciolacu, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Prime Minister, who was knocked out of the race.

The result came as a surprise to many in Romania after polling suggested that Mr Ciolacu was on course for a relatively straight­forward victory, with Mr Georgescu trailing a long distance behind.

Ms Lasconi won 19.18 per cent, narrowly ahead of Mr Ciolacu on 19.15 per cent.

Mr Georgescu was a vocal vaccine critic during the Covid pandemic, frequently spreading his conspiracy-laden stories.

The second round will be the first presidential vote without a PSD candidate since the Romanian revolution and fall of communism, a sign of popular unhappiness with the country’s political establishment. “We are living the end of history, as we knew it and we imagined it for us and for our children,” PSD spokesman and former culture minister Lucian Romascanu said.

Romania, which has a 610km border with Ukraine, plays host to a NATO battle group and a US missile defence installation, which Mr Georgescu has described as a “shame of diplomacy”.

Were Mr Georgescu to win on December 8, it would cause considerable unease among Romania’s Western partners. The president exercises significant power over foreign and security policy and the approval of judges.

“Romania is an absolutely key player in terms of security and ­defence in Europe and for the support of Ukraine,” said Oana Lungescu, a Romanian-born former NATO spokesman and a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

Having qualified as an agronomist under the murderous Ceausescu regime in the late 1980s, Mr Georgescu made a career as an expert on sustainable development policy, leading a UN institute and a European research centre in western Germany.

After several attempts to ­become prime minister, he ran for the presidency as an independent on a stridently anti-establishment ticket.

He promoted himself heavily on TikTok, where some of his clips have been viewed millions of times. While he has been coy about the extent to which he supports Putin’s Russia, he has previously said that NATO would not come to Romania’s defence and that its best hope lay in following “Russian wisdom”.

The Times