US vice-president JD Vance’s scathing criticism of a country cancelling an election due to alleged Russian meddling has emboldened a pro-Putin candidate in his bid to become the next president of Romania.
Călin Georgescu, an ultranationalist who admires and emulates the Russian president, was the surprise winner of a first round presidential vote in November. The constitutional court annulled the election after intelligence services reported an unusual spike on social media and a highly sophisticated influence campaign they believed to have been orchestrated by Moscow.
Vance on Friday told the Munich Security Conference that the decision to scrap the vote was “based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbours”.
“The argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections,” Vance said. “You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do . . . But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the country “remains a defender of the democratic values that Europe shares with the US” and that authorities “are committed to organising free and fair elections” in May, when the presidential vote is due to be held again.
Romanian authorities have struggled to explain how the Russian influence operation was carried out and who paid for it. Police searched the apartment of Georgescu’s chief of staff earlier this week. No criminal charges have been brought against a politician who has declared he spent no money on his highly successful election campaign, which he said was carried out by volunteers.
Georgescu on Friday said Vance had shone a light on the “abuses against democracy in Romania and Europe” and claimed that the constitutional court “doesn’t give a damn about democracy, dignity and strategic partnerships” or about what Vance says.
The former soil engineer turned diplomat describes himself as the “president-elect” and ranks first in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming rerun. The constitutional court could invalidate his bid, but Vance’s comments significantly complicate such a step, analysts say.
“There will be a lot of pressure on the court when they analyse Georgescu’s candidacy,” said Aarhus University researcher Costin Ciobanu. “There will be a lot of emotion around that decision, and an amplified emotional reaction if Georgescu’s candidacy is cancelled.”
Vance’s comments are an “additional blow to mainstream politicians” after a series of scandals and the resignation of former president Klaus Iohannis to avoid impeachment, Ciobanu said.
The US vice-president’s speech “resonates with a significant part of the Romanian public”, he added. “We need a stronger democracy and for that you need transparency and a full investigation of what happened in December.”
Elena Lasconi, a liberal politician who made it into the run-off against Gegorgescu last year, has also been critical of how authorities have handled this crisis.
“It is vital to explain why the election was cancelled. What JD Vance is saying now shows that Romania has not explained to external partners, not even to its strategic partner, what happened in December last year.”
Even if Georgescu is not allowed to run he will be a key player as he can instruct his voters to back another anti-establishment candidate. The leader of the main far-right party in the Romanian parliament, George Simion, has said he would step in if Georgescu is disqualified.
“Whether Georgescu runs or not it will come down to the same basic set-up,” Ciobanu said. “It will be pro-Georgescu forces versus the establishment.”