An ultranationalist, Moscow-friendly Nato critic is set to face a centre-right candidate in the runoff of Romania’s presidential elections after a shock first-round result that has upended the country’s politics and could jeopardise its support for Ukraine.

With 99.98% of votes counted, Călin Georgescu, an independent who has praised Vladimir Putin as “a man who loves his country”, was on 22.9%, with the reformist Elena Lasconi, of the Save Romania Union (USR), second on 19.17%.

The result is one of the biggest electoral upsets in Romania’s post-communist history and bears little relation to pre-election polls, which had shown the little-known Georgescu running at 5% and predicted the outgoing prime minister, the centre-left, pro-EU Marcel Ciolacu, would win comfortably. Ciolacu instead was in third on 19.15%.

Romania’s president has a semi-executive role that includes significant decision-making powers over national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments. The runoff is scheduled for 8 December, after parliamentary elections due next Sunday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/25/calin-georgescu-romania-election-hard-right-candidate

Georgescu was a prominent figure in another far-right party, George Simion’s AUR (GOLD), which eventually expelled him as too radical, after he praised leaders of the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist movement during World War Two.

But late on Sunday night, George Simion endorsed Georgescu, and urged the 1.3 million voters who voted for him on Sunday to support Georgescu in the run-off.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dlw5pq967o