Calin Georgescu primarily campaigned through videos on TikTok, criticizing the European Union, NATO, and the Romanian political establishment.
Calin Georgescu, an independent right-wing populist candidate who campaigned primarily on TikTok, won the first round of Romania’s presidential election on Nov. 25.
Georgescu, 62, and Elena Lasconi, leader of the opposition center-right Save Romania Party, advanced to the second round set for Dec. 8.
Marcel Ciolacu, the current prime minister from the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), came in third and missed out on the run-off.
George Simion, a right-wing nationalist from the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), finished in fourth place, with nine other candidates also competing in the field.
Romania’s Central Election Bureau reported that 9.4 million people cast ballots, representing a turnout of 52.4 percent.
Georgescu campaigned against NATO and the European Union. In a 2021 interview, he referred to NATO’s ballistic missile defense shield, located in the Romanian town of Deveselu, as a “shame of diplomacy.”
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