Thousands protest cancelled Romanian election

27/3/2025 5:57

Thousands of Romanians

gathered in the capital Bucharest on Wednesday to protest the

December cancellation of a presidential election and the banning

of its far-right frontrunner from standing for office again.



The European Union and NATO member which borders Ukraine

will repeat its two-round presidential election on May 4 and 18

after the Constitutional Court voided the initial ballot in

December following accusations of Russian meddling in favour of

far-right, pro-Russian frontrunner Calin Georgescu.



Earlier this month, it banned Georgescu from running again,

and George Simion, leader of Romania's second largest party, the

Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), subsequently became the

hard right's replacement candidate.



Georgescu, who turned 63 on Wednesday, has not publicly

commented since he was disqualified and has stopped short of

outright endorsing Simion.



Opinion surveys released earlier this month show Simion is

poised to make it into the run-off vote on May 18.



Simion's AUR organised Wednesday's protest outside the

government headquarters in downtown Bucharest, which saw several

thousand people gather, shouting "Freedom" and "Thieves," waving

flags and blowing vuvuzelas.



Separately, a competing pro-Georgescu rally saw several

thousand more protesters gather.



"This fake government should fall. It has cut democracy and

sold the country," said Claudiu Ghita, 62, a retired railroad

worker. "I will vote for George Simion in May."



If a far-right candidate succeeds in swaying Georgescu's

voters, it could determine whether another central European

country swings closer to Moscow beside Hungary and Slovakia.



"Calin Georgescu is out, we will vote Simion. The

ultranationalists have not been in power yet and we need peace,"

said Maria, who declined to give her last name. She was wearing

a red Make America Great Again T-shirt and waving a giant

Romanian flag.



The far right, which now holds 35% of parliament seats, has

painted Romanian mainstream parties as beholden to covert

Brussels interests, and has stoked fears that EU support for

Ukraine in its defense against Russia will pull Romania into the

war.