Georgescu's early showing stuns Romania and allies

An independent candidate with a nationalist background has stunned Romania and alarmed its allies by coming first in the initial round of the presidential elections on Sunday.

Calin Georgescu is a 62-year-old expert on sustainable development and agriculture, with no party of his own, but a background in the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) nationalist movement.

His programme calls for a radical transformation of Romania, to one based on small-scale organic agriculture, Christian values, and national sovereignty. His programme has similarities to that of Robert F Kennedy Jr in the US - Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary - who has pledged to "make America healthy again". Some of his videos on TikTok show him bathing in icy water.

Georgescu bases his own expertise on his past work in the Romanian Foreign Ministry, and in a number of think tanks and NGOs linked to the United Nations.

One key to his sudden popularity is his promise to "restore Romania’s dignity" and end subservience to the international organisations it belongs to, including Nato and the EU.

The post of president in Romania is significant, with considerable influence on foreign policy. Romania has been a staunch US ally and Nato member, and hosts US Nato bases which play an important logistical role in monitoring the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Considerable Western military support for Ukraine passes through Romania, though few details are given due to national security concerns. Georgescu has criticised the US-supplied missile shield at Deveselu as "a diplomatic embarrassment", and questioned its defensive role - echoing the Kremlin narrative, which describes the base as an example of Nato aggression towards Russia.

"Romania will respect its obligations towards the alliances, organisations and partnerships of which it is a member," reads point 13 of Georgescu’s campaign programme for this election, "to the extent that they will respect their obligations towards Romania".

In a TV interview in May 2018, he called Russian President Putin one of the few politicians in the world who is "a true leader". This has earned him a reputation as a pro-Russian politician, though there is little other evidence. His victory on Sunday was warmly welcomed in several Russian media, including Sputnik, Russia Today and RIA Novosti. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, remarked obliquely that "he had never heard of him".

Other international comparisons have been made with Hungary’s veteran prime minister, Viktor Orban, whom he is said to admire. The two men could find common ground, in their demand for an end to the war in Ukraine, and the importance of restoring peace in Europe.

Some of his most controversial remarks concern two leaders of the Romanian Iron Guard, a fascist and mystically Christian movement in Romania between 1927 and 1944, whom he described as "heroes". This led to his expulsion from George Simion’s AUR.

Nevertheless Georgescu denies that his programme is in any way antisemitic or xenophobic.

A key factor in his victory on Sunday was his adept use of social media, especially TikTok, where he has more than 330,000 followers - up from 30,000 a fortnight ago - and more than 4m likes. That translated into over two million votes in this election.