Who is Calin Georgescu, the populist of the extreme right investigated by prosecutors in Romania?

More bucoura – He shook Romania’s political landscape in November when he secured the first round in the presidential elections, moving from a dark candidate to overcome the starting prime minister.

Calin Georgescu, A little known populist, extremely right, Most of the votes were secured and advanced to the second round to face the reformist Elena Lasconi of the Progressive Save Romania Union Party.

The surprising result left many political observers wondering how most of the local surveys were outside, leaving Georgescu behind at least five other candidates. A higher court made the unprecedented movement to cancel elections After accusations of electoral violations and Russian interference arose.

Wednesday, Romanian Prosecutors launched criminal investigation Against Georgescu, accusing him of the financing abuses of the electoral campaign, supporting fascist groups and other crimes. The new elections have been reprogrammed for May, and it is not clear if Georgescu can participate in the vote.

Who is Calin Georgescu?

Born in Bucharest in 1962, Georgescu has a doctorate in pedology, a branch of soil science, and held different positions in the Romanian Ministry of Environment in the 1990s, according to its website. Between 1999 and 2012, he was a representative of Romania in the National Committee of the United Nations Environment Program.

Once a member of the Romanian extreme alliance for the Unit of the Romanians, or Aur, Georgescu left the game in 2022 after a period of internal struggles. He was accused by colleagues of being pro-ruso and critic with NATO, the military alliance led by the United States to which Romania belongs.

He supports the Romanian Orthodox Church and has caused controversy in the past to describe Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders of the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes.

He also praised the Russian president Vladimir Putin in the past as “a man who loves his country” and called Ukraine “an invented state”, but claims not to be pro-ruso. He is married and has three children.

A feeling of social networks?

Many observers attributed Georgescu’s success to his Tiktok account, which has 4.3 million likes and 679,000 followers. He obtained great traction and popularity in the weeks prior to the first round of elections.

According to an expert forum report, a group of Bucharest -based experts, the Georgescu Tiktok account has had an explosion that, according to him, seemed “sudden and artificial, similar to their survey results.”

As of November 18, his Tiktok account obtained 92.8 million visits mainly in the last two months, according to the report, a figure that grew at 52 million visits a week later, a few days before the first round.

“The most visible theme promoted by Calin Georgescu on Tiktok in the last two months is peace, more precisely the need for Romania to stop supporting Ukraine so as not to involve Romania in the war,” the report said.

After his first round victory, another Tiktok account with only Georgescu content, which had 1.7 million I like, seemed to have been eliminated. He had publications with Georgescu attending the church, making judo, running along an oval track and speaking in podcasts.

Support from Vance and Elon Musk

Since Romania canceled the elections, Georgescu has become a cause of Celèbre among the extreme right, with support from prominent figures such as vice president JD Vance and Elon Musk, who have strongly criticized Romania for annulling the vote.

After Georgescu was taken to interrogate, not arrested, on Wednesday, Musk wrote in a publication in his X account, where he has 218 million followers: “They simply arrested the person who won the greatest number of votes in the Romanian presidential elections. This is messy. “

Earlier this month, Vice President Vance also scolded Romania, claiming that the Court’s ruling was based on “straight suspicions” of the intelligence agencies and the “huge pressure” of Romania’s neighbors.

“If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars (euros) of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it was not very strong to start,” he said in the Munich Security Conference.

Where is Georgescu?

Their positions include supporting Romanian farmers, reducing import dependence and increasing the production of local energy and food. He also wants to establish a “sovereign” distribution model supposedly based on participatory democracy that “truth, freedom and sovereignty are the axes of values” in the development of Romania.

In foreign policy, he has issued skepticism both in NATO and in the European Union, to which Romania belongs.

In an interview with Associated Press in December, Georgescu said that the Western alliances of Romania are still safe, provided that “they serve the sovereignty of the country and nothing more.”

He is also a supporter of Donald Trump of Donald Trump, who says that the president of the United States “knows what he wants, loves his people, put the United States first, just as I put Romania first … We have the same ideology.”