Romanian politics shocked: TikTok-powered candidate heads to presidential runoff
Unknown pro-Russian candidate wins first round of Romaniaʼs presidential race using TikTok-focused campaign. Constitutional court orders unprecedented vote recount while far-right parties gain power
Last week Calin Georgescu‚ a pro-Russian independent candidate won Romanias first round presidential election with 23% of votes‚ using TikTok as his main campaign tool (the platform has almost 9 million users in the country - highest per-capita in EU)
His success caught many off-guard; mainstream polls didnt see it coming. Georgescu shows clear pro-Putin views - he often films himself doing strongman activities like horse-riding and ice-swimming
Why remain in a club that doesnt provide security for your country
The election brought more surprises: Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu lost to small-town mayor Elena Lasconi by just 2‚740 votes. After the first round results the Constitutional Court made an un-precedented decision to recount all votes (first time since communist era ended in late 80s)
The recount confirmed initial results but political tension grew when parliamentary elections happened on Dec-1st. Three far-right parties got almost 1/3 of seats while pro-EU parties barely kept majority. The situation created a hard-to-manage parliament split
Klaus Iohannis‚ current president first said there were no signs of foreign influence but later the National Defense Council found:
- cyber-attacks targeting election process
- hostile actions from Russia
- TikTok platform breaking election rules
- coordinated messaging from state actors
The Dec-8 runoff between pro-EU Lasconi and pro-Russian Georgescu will decide if Romania stays West-aligned or shifts East. The next president will control armed forces set foreign policy and pick intelligence chiefs
