Romanian far-right parties were struggling to find a viable replacement for Călin Georgescu after the pro-Russia presidential candidate was barred from running in upcoming elections.
George Simion, leader of the AUR party, the second-largest force in the Romanian parliament, will seek to replace Georgescu on the ballot — and so will Anamaria Gavrilă, leader of an upstart far-right party called POT, to maximise the nationalists’ chances in the May vote.
Georgescu endorsed both their bids, Simion said on Wednesday after meeting the former presidential frontrunner, with their main goal being for one of them to make it into the second round. Georgescu had surprisingly won a first-round presidential vote in November, which was later annulled by the constitutional court due to suspicions that he benefited from a campaign orchestrated by Moscow.
The constitutional court on Tuesday upheld an earlier ban by the country’s election authority, throwing out Georgescu’s bid on the grounds that he was in violation of election law.
Simion said the ban on Georgescu meant Romania no longer had a functional democracy — an accusation echoed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson and senior figures in US President Donald Trump’s administration.
If both bids were to be validated by authorities, “one of us will withdraw”, Gavrilă said. “We must give this sovereigntist movement every chance.”
Prosecutors last week launched a criminal probe into Simion for incitement after he said that the members of the electoral body who first threw out Georgescu’s bid should be “skinned alive” in public.
Georgescu is also subject to a criminal investigation for allegedly attempting to undermine the constitutional order with the help of fascist groups. He also did a Nazi salute last month after being taken in for questioning by prosecutors.
The Kremlin said it would consider any election without Georgescu “illegitimate”, while US vice-president JD Vance slammed Romania for annulling the elections based on “flimsy” evidence from intelligence services and amid alleged pressure from other European capitals.
Georgescu was polling above 40 per cent in recent weeks, but it remains unclear how much of that support will transfer to Simion or Gavrilă.
Another ultranationalist politician, Diana Șoșoacă, who was barred from running in November, has also signalled her intention to make a renewed bid for the presidency.
Liberal politician Crin Antonescu, the joint candidate of the three-way coalition government, was polling second behind Georgescu in recent surveys. Antonescu’s bid was validated by the constitutional court on Wednesday.
“I wish I could have defeated him at the ballot box,” Antonescu wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “But democracy comes with respecting people, laws, and state institutions.”
Another pro-European candidate who successfully submitted his bid so far is Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan, who was polling third behind Georgescu and Antonescu.
Dan criticised the authorities’ handling of Georgescu: “A weak state could not prevent the cancellation of the elections and cannot explain it with convincing evidence for all Romanians after three months.”
Former prime minister Victor Ponta and Elena Lasconi, a liberal politician who qualified for the run-off in December against Georgescu, have also declared their intent to run, but their bids have yet to be validated.
