A pro-Russian candidate known for his opposition to the European Union and NATO, Calin Georgescu, shockingly surged into the lead as per preliminary results in the Romanian presidential election.
According to Al Jazeera, the pro-Europe rival and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu appeared in second position with a close margin, threatening the pro-Western outlook of the country.
As per results from the Central Electoral Bureau showed on Sunday, November 24, 2024, with 98 percent of ballots counted, Georgescu had nearly 23 percent of the majority, while Ciolacu got about 20 percent of the votes.
Moreover, the centre-right Save Romania Union party candidate, Elena Lasconi, is in third place with nearly 19 percent of votes, while George Simion of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians has 14 percent of the voters' support.
The final results of the first round of presidential elections are expected to be announced late on Monday, November 25, 2025.
The Central Election Bureau said that about 52.4 percent of the eligible voters, 9.4 million people, cast their ballot in the election.
Furthermore, one of the reasons that the election results are surprising for the people is that Georgescu does not have his own party. He is an unaffiliated Romanian politician who campaigned largely through the social media platform TikTok and is now on the track to joining Ciolacu in a second and final run-off for the presidency on December 8, 2024.
