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Some Romanian voters see no alternative to barred far-right candidate
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Romanian voters support far-right candidate Georgescu despite his election ban. Allegations of meddling and public protests highlight political tensions.
By Janis Laizans and Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Cornelia Borta sees no alternative to far-right politician Calin Georgescu as Romania's next president, despite moves to bar him from standing in the rerun of a presidential election in May.
Borta left her young child with relatives in the eastern county of Neamt and travelled to Bucharest to protest outside Romania's top court on Tuesday as it decided whether to uphold the central election authority's decision on Sunday to bar him.
Georgescu, 62, won a first round of voting running as an independent in last year's election but the result was annulled by the Constitutional Court in December because of allegations of Russian election meddling.
"There is no alternative, Calin Georgescu for president," Borta, a 38-year-old housewife, said outside the Constitutional Court.
She said, without citing evidence, that there was clear proof that he would have won the election because "they did everything in their power to eliminate him from the race."
"We must take to the streets," she said. "We are in a very, very critical moment and the only solution is peace. All Romanians must go out in the street and prove we want peace."
Georgescu, who has praised Romania's 1930s fascist leaders as heroes and martyrs and who admires both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin is under criminal investigation on six counts.
"Romanians wanted change, they still do," 80-year-old pensioner Constantin Matache said outside the headquarters of the central election authority. "There are certain people ... who are abusing (power) and they dictate the current politics as they wish."
The far right has four days to find a replacement candidate. A small group of Georgescu supporters smashed pavements and set rubbish bins ablaze in Bucharest on Sunday.
"The parties’ voters are still there and they will head towards an anti-system option," said Cristian Pirvulescu, a political scientist.
(Additional reporting by Andreea Campeanu; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Calin Georgescu is a far-right politician running for president in Romania. He has been barred from standing in the rerun of the presidential election due to allegations of Russian influence.
Supporters like Cornelia Borta believe there is no alternative to Georgescu and claim he would have won the election if not for efforts to eliminate him from the race.
A small group of Georgescu's supporters protested violently in Bucharest, smashing pavements and setting rubbish bins ablaze, reflecting their frustration over his barred candidacy.
Georgescu has praised Romania's 1930s fascist leaders and admires figures like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which raises concerns about his political ideology and its acceptance among voters.
The far-right has four days to find a replacement candidate as the election approaches, amidst ongoing public protests and calls for change from the electorate.
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