Romanian court upholds presidential election first-round results

Far-right candidate Calin Georgescu will face centre-right contender Elena Lasconi in December 8 run-off.

Romania’s Constitutional Court has validated the shock first-round result in its presidential election, setting the stage for a run-off vote on December 8, which could upend the country’s pro-Western orientation and erode backing for Ukraine.

The ruling on Monday clears the uncertainty that has hung over the nation since the court demanded a vote recount last week.

It also confirms the November 24 victory of little-known far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, which raised suspicions of outside meddling in the electoral process of a country that has been a staunch ally of Ukraine as it fights against Russia’s invasion.

“Judges unanimously decided to… confirm and validate the result of the first presidential round on November 24 and holding the second round on December 8,” chief judge Marian Enache said.

Georgescu will now face centre-right contender Elena Lasconi in the run-off in the European Union and NATO member state.

A day earlier, Romania held a parliamentary election, with the governing left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD) leading but with far-right parties gaining a third of seats in the new legislature.

The outcome of Sunday’s parliamentary election, the second of three ballots scheduled over a period of as many weeks, sets the stage for what is likely to be a period of talks among mainstream parties on forming a governing majority, with the PSD central to the negotiations.

PSD leader and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told reporters the party has yet to endorse a candidate in the presidential run-off.

“Romanians must decide for themselves,” he said.

“The PSD will need to be a bridge between EU-funded development and EU and NATO membership and … a part of Romanians who believe in Christian values and national identity.”

With 99.98 percent of votes counted in the parliamentary ballot, the PSD won 22.3 percent, ahead of the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians with 18.3 percent.

Lasconi’s centrist opposition, the Save Romania Union (USR), had 12.25 percent, while the junior governing coalition ally, the Liberals, had 14.3 percent. Two far-right groupings, SOS and POT, had 7.75 percent and 6.4 percent respectively, and the ethnic Hungarian Party UDMR was on 6.38 percent.

Liberal leader Ilie Bolojan said the party was willing to participate in a pro-Western coalition.

“If the president is far-right, it would be very complicated for pro-Europeans to organise and resist in parliament because they will have an extraordinarily difficult 2025,” political scientist Cristian Pirvulescu told the Reuters news agency.

Who gets to form the government will ultimately depend on who wins the presidential race, since the president designates a prime minister.

A survey conducted by the pollster CURS on December 1 at voting stations indicated that Georgescu could win 57.8 percent in a run-off to Lasconi’s 42.2 percent. The survey polled 24,629 people.

“Yesterday’s election shows the pool of voters for Lasconi is very small. The pool of voters for Georgescu can be very large,” Pirvulescu said.

“PSD voters have more in common with the far-right candidate, who has an important shot at winning the election.”

Georgescu – who relied heavily on social media, particularly TikTok, to reach out to voters – has adopted a soft tone on Russia and criticised the placement of NATO ballistic missiles in Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Philipp Lausberg, a senior policy analyst at Belgium-based European Policy Centre, a research institute, told Al Jazeera last week that Georgescu won the anti-establishment vote.

“Many are tired of the existing party system. Some don’t feel represented by them,” Lausberg said.