Romania bars far-right front-runner from presidential race

Andra Timu and Irina Vilcu, Bloomberg News on Mar 9, 2025

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Romania banned far-right front-runner Calin Georgescu from taking part in May presidential election in a move that deepens the country’s political turmoil and risks provoking the wrath of Trump administration.

The Bucharest-based electoral bureau rejected Georgescu’s candidacy at a meeting on Sunday, it said in a statement, after receiving more than 1,000 complaints, mostly relating to his anti-democratic and extremist stances. The ruling can still be appealed at the Constitutional Court.

The move will likely worsen Romania’s anti-establishment mood and bolster the far-right. It could also strain ties with the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, which has urged Bucharest to let Georgescu take part in the rerun of the election after a shock decision to cancel the previous ballot in December.

The opinion polls have indicated Georgescu would have gotten between 40% and 45% of the vote in the first round on May 4, giving him a real shot to become Romania’s president in the runoff.

A few thousand protesters gathered in front of the electoral bureau on Sunday to protest the decision, some attempting to clash with the riot police.

“This decision is a continuation of the coup d’etat started in December,” said George Simion, the leader of the largest far-right opposition party AUR, which backs Georgescu.

It remains to be seen whether Georgescu will throw his support behind any of the other candidates, such as Simion, who backed him after the cancellation of the elections or will try to resubmit his application to run.

Prior moves by the authorities against Georgescu, a fringe politician who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, had only increased his popularity and stoked distrust toward state institutions.

After he unexpectedly won the first round of last year’s presidential election, the top court annulled the result of the vote, citing suspicions of Russian meddling in his campaign.

That move sparked Romania’s biggest political crisis since the collapse of communism. The cancellation of the vote remains unpopular among Romanians and was also criticized by the administration of President Donald Trump and his allies such as Elon Musk.

Prosecutors brought six criminal charges against Georgescu earlier this month as part of a probe into his previous campaign, for which he declared zero funding. He is accused of leading a fascist organization and making false statements on campaign financing. If found guilty, Georgescu could be imprisoned and barred from running for public office.

He denies any wrongdoing and continues to claim no funding for his campaign, which he says was exclusively based on volunteers.

“Everyone is watching Romania and how the corrupt system acted,” Georgescu said on Friday, adding that he thinks it’s impossible for his name not to be on the ballot’s list of candidates.

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