Eastern European correspondent in Bucharest
BBCTens of thousands of Romanians marched at the seat of the Romanian government, the victory square in Bucharest over the weekend after presidential election favourites were taken to interrogate.
Calin Georgescu was greeted on the way to register as a candidate and later accused of trying to overthrow a constitutional order and with membership in a neo-fascist organization.
“Georgeque’s mentality is the same as Trump’s,” Lavinia approved her 3-year-old daughter’s stroller as she piloted her stroller from a sea of flags in Romania.
“He listens to us, as we listen to him. We’ve come here today for freedom and democracy.”
An unexpected twist occurred on the day of Georgek’s arrest.
The guns, grenade launchers and gold bullion buried under the floorboards were found in an assault on 47 facilities by Romanian police, said to be run by the former French president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the militia chief.
Horatiu Potra’s current location is unknown, but his suspicious link to Georgescu has been added to the plot.
Horatiu Potra admitted to illegal possession of weapons, but Georgescu denied all fraud.
In just three months, Romania has traveled from stable and loyal members of the European Union and NATO to a country where far-right pro-Russian figures have come almost everywhere to fall in love with the presidency.
Romanian policeGeorgek led the first round of the election last December, but the spill was invalidated after Romanian intelligence agency revealed that Russia was involved in the 800 Tiktok accounts that he supports.
The elections are being rerun on May 4th and 18th.
For Georgescu’s critics, the weapons cache photo is the ultimate evidence of his danger to the Republic.
For his supporters, they are the latest muddy bout, a fateful attempt to resist Trump-inspired change, inevitable by a corrupt administration.
On the side of the road, the only backer played the same piece over and over again on an electric piano, and a sea of protesters passed by.
“We’re talking about freedom to choose our president,” said Oana Eftomy, vice-president of another right-wing group, the Romanian Patriotic Party.
One characteristic of the Kalin Georgek phenomenon is that it appears to have reached beyond existing nationalist parties like AUR, an alliance of the Romanian Union that won 18% and 63 seats in the parliamentary elections on December 1.
Some polls have made him 40% higher.
Georgescu overturns both Firebrand AUR leader George Simion and SOS Romania leader Diana Sosoaca.
Oana Eftimie dismissed the charges against Georgescu and some of his supporters.
“He was previously charged for all of that and the case was shut down last year due to a lack of evidence. So he is not a fascist, we are not a fascist. We are ordinary people who want to be able to choose leaders and we are exhausted by those who are in power now.”
In a quiet apartment not too far from the raucous marchers, Elena Karistole, the president of the Funky Citizens, a liberal-oriented non-governmental organisation, admits that the distress of protesters against corrupt, complacent elites actually has some basis.
“But if you have a home and the roof is leaking. You don’t burn the home. You’ll fix the roof, right?
“Unfortunately, there is also the mal lazyness we see all over Europe, the lack of leadership, the lack of politicians who can speak to the general public without trying to compete with populists.”
As a loyal US ally, Romanian military analysts are holding their breath on the fate of Romania’s substantial US military infrastructure, including 4,500 US personnel. Dacian Spring, a major NATO exercise scheduled for the spring, has been postponed until after the May election.
Candidates must register for presidential candidates until March 15th. If the Romanian Constitutional Court finds Georgeuk cannot stand it, how will the Americans react due to the accusations against him?
US Vice President JD Vance made clear criticism of Romania at the Munich Security Conference last month.
“If you could destroy your democracy with hundreds of thousands of dollars of digital ads from abroad, it wouldn’t have been that strong in the first place.”
“The good news now is that you think your democracy is much more vulnerable than many people clearly fear,” Vance added.
Romanians on both sides of the political spectrum seem unconvincing.
