First Round Of Presidential Election In Romania Makes Sensation

• 25.11.2024, 8:41

An unexpected candidate is leading.

Right-wing politician Călin Georgescu is leading in the first round of the Romanian presidential election after the counting of 95.43% of votes with 22.18%, the country's CEC said on the night of November 25.

Social Democrat and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was predicted to win by exit polls, came second with 20.3%, German news service Deutsche Welle reported.

Elena Lasconi of the liberal Union for the Salvation of Romania party is third (17.94 per cent). The top four is rounded out by extreme right-wing candidate George Simion with 14.18 per cent of the vote.

According to analysts, there are strong political tensions in the country, discontent is caused by record inflation, which reached 10 per cent in 2023 and remains at 5.5 per cent.

The head of state determines foreign and security policy in Romania, he is supreme commander of the armed forces and is involved in controlling the intelligence services.

Georgescu is a non-party candidate, formerly a member of the nationalist Alliance for the Unification of Romanians, and former executive director of the UN Global Sustainable Development Index Institute in Geneva and Vaduz. Between 2010 and 2012, Georgescu served as a special rapporteur at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He is sometimes labelled in the media as a pro-Russian politician.

Ciolacu is the current Prime Minister of Romania and former president of the lower house of the Romanian parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The media describe him as a supporter of left-wing economic and right-wing social ideas.

The second round is scheduled for December 8.

Parliamentary elections in Romania are scheduled for 1 December.