Karin Georjuk, a supranational candidate who won the first round of Romania’s presidential election last year, was barred from competing in a poll scheduled for May, sparking small but violent protests by supporters of the Roman capital, Bucharest.
The Central Election Bureau issued a statement that it controlled the registration of the candidacy of Georgek, an outspoken critic of Ukraine and NATO, who expressed sympathy for the fascist leaders of Russia and Romania during World War II. The department also said it rejected three other candidates.
He did not explain the decision. This did not say it was less than two weeks after Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal case against Georgik due to “inciting action against the constitutional order,” “communication of false information,” and “involved in the establishment of an organization with the character of fascists, racists or foreigners.”
Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside Bucharest’s elections office Sunday evening, screaming “thief” and “traitors” and threw stones and firecrackers at police officers who responded with a volley of tear gas.
The protest was much smaller than previous street demonstrations by Georgek supporters, but raised political tensions and fears of violence ahead of its second presidential campaign. The crowd later disbanded.
The Romanian president has limited power, but has played an important role in the foreign policy of the country, adjacent to Ukraine and has a large air base near the Black Sea used by the US military.
Georgek, who has the right to appeal his exclusion, denounced the Bureau of Elections’ decision as “another direct blow to the center of democracy around the world.” He states: “Europe is now a dictatorship. Romania is under tyranny.”
Georgek surprised the country by winning the first round of the original election in November. Romania’s political establishment saw him as a more mainstream candidate and a fringe candidate that would not pose a serious challenge to George Simion, the prominent far-right nationalist.
Georgek, who claims to have spent “zero” on his campaign, was barely known to most Romanians until the video in support of him mysteriously appeared on social media on the last day of his campaign.
The Constitutional Court negated his first-round victory two days before the December outflow, saying it “wanted to ensure the accuracy and legality of the election process.” Many of the NATO’s fellow Romanian members supported the decision, but it infuriated some of the conservatives in Europe and America.
“This is crazy,” Elon Musk said on Sunday on his social media platform X about his decision to ban Georgek from competing again.
Vice President JD Vance invalidated Romanian votes in a speech at a security conference in Munich, stating that it was a “retreat” from freedom of speech and democracy.
The Constitutional Court intervened to cancel the original election after Romanian Security Agency issued a declassified intelligence report that pointed out the possibility of Russian interference in the campaign on Georgek’s behalf, but did not provide solid evidence of that.
