On Wednesday, thousands of Romanians gathered in Bucharest to protest the cancellation of a presidential election in December and the disqualification of its far-right leading candidate from future office.
Romania, a member of both the European Union and NATO, is set to hold a new two-round presidential election on May 4 and 18. This follows the Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the previous election due to allegations of Russian interference favoring the far-right, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu.
Earlier this month, Georgescu was barred from running again, leading to George Simion, the leader of Romania’s second-largest party, the Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), being named as the new candidate for the far-right.
Georgescu, who turned 63 on the day of the protest, has not made any public statements since his disqualification and has refrained from openly supporting Simion.
Recent opinion polls indicate that Simion is likely to advance to the run-off on May 18.
The AUR organized the protest outside the government headquarters in central Bucharest. Several thousand participants chanted “Freedom” and “Thieves,” while waving flags and blowing vuvuzelas.
In a separate event, another rally supporting Georgescu attracted a similar number of protesters.
See more: Romanian Far-right Candidate Expected to Win the First Round of the Presidential Election.
“This illegitimate government must go. It has undermined democracy and sold out the country,” stated Claudiu Ghita, a 62-year-old retired railroad worker. “I will vote for George Simion in May.”
If a far-right candidate can attract Georgescu’s supporters, it may influence whether Romania aligns more closely with Moscow, similar to Hungary and Slovakia.
“Calin Georgescu is out; we will support Simion. The ultranationalists have yet to hold power, and we need stability,” said Maria. While wearing a red Make America Great Again T-shirt and waving a large Romanian flag.
The far-right faction, currently occupying 35% of the parliamentary seats, has portrayed Romania’s mainstream political parties as being influenced by hidden interests from Brussels.
Additionally, it has heightened concerns that the European Union’s backing of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia could drag Romania into the war.