Pro-Russian presidential candidate still most popular in Romania as new poll date set

Romania’s pro-Putin far-right candidate remains voters’ first choice in an upcoming presidential vote despite allegations of Russia aiding his bid, according to an opinion poll.

More than 40 per cent of respondents surveyed by Verifield in late December said they would back Călin Georgescu for the presidency. The survey was carried out weeks after the country’s constitutional court annulled a first-round vote in which the far-right candidate came first, saying he probably benefited from an illegal campaign co-ordinated by Moscow.

The opinion poll was commissioned by Bucharest mayor, Nicușor Dan, a liberal pro-EU politician who plans to run for president once the new election date is set.

“Georgescu is undoubtedly the biggest danger Romanian democracy has faced in its post-communist history,” Dan told the Financial Times. “His recent performance and our polling numbers confirm that . . . this will be anything but a normal election, as the stakes are high and a large part of the electorate is very angry.”

Dan polled third behind Georgescu and Crin Antonescu, who has been nominated as joint candidate of the ruling coalition. Antonescu has since “suspended” his bid over disagreements with the parties backing him.

Elena Lasconi, the pro-EU liberal politician who made it into the now cancelled run-off with Georgescu, was polling fourth in that survey, Dan said. Lasconi has indicated she is willing to drop out if Dan had a better shot at making it into the final round.

Lasconi has criticised the government for failing to sack anyone or present further evidence of Russian meddling.

“⁠We still have to understand what really happened,” she told the FT. “It’s been a month already, yet there is no significant investigation going on.”

She said she was ready to stand again, though warned that authorities still seemed unprepared for the rerun: “We need a plan to avoid irregularities, including potential external interference.”

Some experts have expressed doubts about the survey. Remus Pricopie, rector of the Bucharest-based University of Political Studies and Public Administration, blasted the mayor for an “irresponsible” release of what he called erroneous figures, which was “promoting a pro-Russian politician [and] trying to dismiss other serious candidates”.

Dan described the poll as “serious” but did not release the underlying data, saying it was commissioned for internal use by his campaign and conducted in the days before and after Christmas, when people are distracted by the holidays.

No other public opinion poll has been released following the cancelled vote.

Georgescu has denied having any ties with Russia and has challenged the decision to scrap the vote, including at the European Court of Human Rights.

“If Romanian justice has not brought justice and honour to the Romanian people, then perhaps the international justice system, from the ECHR, will do so for the good of all,” Georgescu wrote on X. “The right to free will . . . was taken from us by corrupt and sinful politicians.”

An ECHR spokesman confirmed that the court received Georgescu’s request and said the court would examine it this month.

Georgescu has called on supporters to join a protest on Friday in front of the constitutional court, which can invalidate his bid. If he is barred from running, far-right AUR party leader George Simion has said he is willing to stand in his place.

The three-party government coalition has yet to agree on an election date, which has to be announced at least 75 days before the deadline to allow for a campaign to take place. The coalition parties were due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the calendar.

The presidential rerun was shaping up as the “biggest challenge for the new government”, said Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. “Should a government candidate succeed, the ruling coalition would have a greater chance of survival over the next four years.”