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The pro-Russian candidate leads the presidential elections in Romania

2024-11-25 09:02:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Pro-Russian candidate Cailn Georgescu is leading in Romania's presidential election, according to preliminary results, swinging the outcome of the race and opening the possibility of a runoff with Elena Lasconi.

With 99.5 percent of the votes counted, Georgescu - who has been criticized for his anti-NATO stance - is leading with 22.94 percent of the vote.

Elena Lasconi from the center-right Union for the Rescue of Romania came second with 16.9 percent, while the pro-Western candidate, Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, came third. The race is close, as the difference of votes between Lasconi and Ciolacut is 434.

Then, according to the results, George Simion from the ultra-nationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians emerged, with 13.93 percent of the votes.

Experts said results from big cities - where Ciolacu and Lasconi are likely to do better than Georgescu - could change the standings in this tight race.

Two polls predicted that Ciolacu will win 25 percent of the vote, while Lasconi came second with about 18 percent. Georgescu and Simioni, according to the polls, will receive 14-16 percent of the votes.

13 candidates competed in the November 24 presidential race. The two polls did not include voting from the diaspora, where Lasconi and Simion are expected to lead.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, the extreme right seems to be the big winner of this election.

If none of the candidates wins more than 50 percent of the votes, then on December 8, a runoff will be held between the two candidates with the most votes. This runoff would be held just one week after Romania holds parliamentary elections on December 1.

Ciolacu was the pre-election favorite and pre-vote polls said five candidates were likely to advance to the run-off to replace outgoing centre-right President Klaus Iohannis, who is completing his second and final term as president.

Fourteen candidates were registered for the presidential race, but Ludovic Orban announced his withdrawal from the race.

Election officials said turnout was over 52 percent, or about 9.44 million voters. The turnout was higher compared to the 2019 elections, when it was 51.18 percent.

Georgescu, 62 years old, has been criticized by the media in Romania for expressing pro-Russian views. He said that the votes won by him represent a real victory for Romania.

"The rich of the system have become poorer and poor Romanians have become richer," he said, who has used the social network TikTok to campaign.

After the polls were published, Lasconi said in a statement that she came second and will face Georgescu in a runoff.

Lasconi, a former small-town mayor and journalist, was the only candidate to oppose the idea of ??Ukraine giving up territory to Russia in a peace deal, saying that if Kiev did so, it would only embolden the president Russian, Vladimir Putin.

"If Ukraine gives territory, Putin will not stop. We must help Ukraine to win this war", she said.

Foreign policy has been a concern for voters, mainly because of Russia's war against Ukraine and how that conflict could change due to the change of administration in the United States.

Romania has become an important ally of Ukraine, providing not only military training and equipment, but transporting Ukrainian grain and other agricultural goods to international markets. This pro-Ukrainian attitude of Bucharest is mainly attributed to the current president Iohannis.

The President in Romania has extraordinary power in terms of making decisions, including those on the issue of national security and foreign policy. The President has a five-year mandate./ Rel