2024 Presidential Election Update
The latest update on the presidential election in Romania
Vlad Palcu, 25.11.2024, 08:12
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – The hard-right independent candidate Călin Georgescu leads the list of partial results with 22.91% of total votes, followed by the incumbent Prime Minister and president of the largest party in Romania, PSD (Social-Democrats), Marcel Ciolacu with 19.18%, and the representative of the reformist Save Romania Union (USR) party, Elena Lasconi, with 19.15%.
Early exit polls on Sunday had put Ciolacu in a comfortable lead, projecting the center-right candidate, Lasconi, was trailing 5% behind. Some 2,500 votes currently separate the two candidates.
Georgescu’s result stunned both society and media, after the independent failed to secure the support of any political faction, and chose to conduct his campaign on social media (particularly on TikTok), leveraging anti-establishment rhetoric to rally more voters.
A figure of great controversy, Georgescu is known for his overt support of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also for his admiration of the Legionary Movement in Romania and his sovereigntist views.
The vote poses “a dilemma for the millions of Romanians who voted for other candidates”, the BBC writes in response to the results. In turn, Politico describes Georgescu as a candidate who came “out of nowhere” to overturn what many saw a predictable clash between the PSD candidate and a representative of the parliamentary opposition.
The presidential runoff is slated for December 8, while the parliamentary election will be held on December 1, the National Day of Romania.
