Romanian election today
Romania is having a national election today after the country’s constitutional court annulled the earlier election in which a far-right candidate won a majority, on the grounds of campaign finance irregularities and foreign interference from Russia, in particular. “Alleged electoral violations included the activation of thousands of previously inactive social media accounts to spread pro-Georgescu messaging as part of an ‘aggressive Russian hybrid attack,’ which Moscow denies.”1
Politico gives a general overview of the election, complete with a Thomas Friedman-like interview with a random taxi driver:
“We call it the big squid because it has its tentacles everywhere — only the guys on top have profits,” says Dragoș, who was born a few months before the revolution and now drives taxis. “Democracy was only a name. We are still under Communism — in every way.”
His attitude is a common one. Locals become angry talking about how politicians have betrayed their country. They fear and despise officials in the old political parties, who control appointments to local institutions and businesses — sometimes favoring friends or family connections for the best jobs.2
Our Opus Dei Vice President J.D. Vance publicly scolded the Rumanian court for insisting on legal-conducted elections.
Edmond Jäger wrote of that outcome:
To this day, it is disputed whether the Constitutional Court even had the authority to make this decision. Both [Călin] Georgescu's surprise victory and the annulment of the election are causing outrage at home and abroad. The fact that this has been achieved is a hard lesson not only for Romania, but also for the Western world. Because this revealed not only the extreme vulnerability of democracy in the age of social media, but also the lack of attractiveness of liberal democracy at a time of frequent crises.3
Georgescu previously associated with the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians party (AUR). The unity-of-Romania concept has to do with territorial claims the far right makes on Moldova, part of whose territory is controlled by Russia. He ran as an independent for the Presidency in 2024. Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister indicated his support for Georgescu in 2024 by a phone call:
Romania’s ambassador to Israel said on Sunday that Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli was “meshugeneh” — Yiddish for crazy or foolish — for speaking by phone with a presidential candidate who has praised notorious Romanian antisemites and Nazi collaborators.
“I am deeply hurt, and I think that Mr. Chikli owes us an apology,” Radu Ioanid told The Times of Israel.
“I find it shocking to see a minister of the government of the State of Israel be perceived as backing, in a crucial electoral moment, a Romanian political candidate who is loudly and proudly glorifying historical figures who were directly responsible for [the] mass murder of Jews,” said the ambassador.4
This was another ugly example of the policy of lsrael cultivating links with far-right parties in Europe that are friendly to antisemites but declare their support of Israel as part of their xenophobic, anti-Muslim positions. The idea of European rightists is that lets them say, “We can’t be antisemitic because we totally support the genocide against Muslim Palestinians being carried out by the Israeli government.”
Chikli had previously made a similar gesture of support for the notorious French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Israeli columnist Amir Tibon was more blunt in his judgment:
Romania is accusing Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli of interfering in the country's elections, after he held a publicized phone call last week with radical-right presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, who has a long record of glorifying the country's Nazi collaborationist leaders.
Romania's ambassador to Israel told Haaretz that Chikli's conduct hurts his country's close relationship with Israel, and emphasized that Romania never intervened in Israeli politics in a similar manner. …
Georgescu has expressed pro-Russian, anti-NATO positions, and is considered the preferred candidate of the Kremlin in Romania.
During his call with Chikli, the Romanian far-right leader promised to move the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and not to respect the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. …
Georgescu found the [Israeli ambassador’s] call useful because he is under criticism for his long history of praise for antisemitic Romanian leaders and organizations who took part in the mass murder of the country's Jews.5 [my emphasis]
But Opus Dei man-of-the-people J.D. Vance likes Georgescu! So there’s that.
Netayahu’s government had also given a similar gesture of support to the Romanian AUR. As Tibon notes:
In August 2023, Israel's Ambassador Reuven Azar met George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians [AUR] on the orders of then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
Israel had previously boycotted the party, whose members frequently glorify Antonescu and the Iron Guard, over its antisemitic rhetoric and advocacy of Holocaust revisionism. Diplomatic sources in Bucharest at the time called it a "very unfortunate and very unhappy initiative." [my emphasis]
Today’s election
The Guardian’s Jon Henley describes that same George Simion, the Trumpist candidate in today’s Romanian Presidential run-off election as:
… a former soccer ultra [hooligan] and ultranationalist agitator who sees his far-right AUR party as a “natural ally” of the US Maga movement, comfortably won the 4 May first round with a score of 41%, double that of the Bucharest mayor, Nicuşor Dan.
Recent polls have shown the gap between the two candidates closing, with one putting them neck and neck and another placing Dan – who has described the vote as a battle between “a pro-western and an anti-western Romania” – ahead.6
Nicuşor Dan, currently mayor of the Romanian capital Bucharest, is the moderate pro-European candidate facing off against George Simion.
Two other EU countries, Poland and Portugal, also have elections today.
As Henley explains, “Romanian presidents have a semi-executive role with considerable powers over foreign policy, national security, defence spending and judicial appointments.” ()But even in Simion wins the Presidency, the parliamentary parties might still approve a pro-democracy Prime Minister.
But Simion’s election would nevertheless be a setback for democracy in Romania and the EU. Britain’s Channel 4 reported on Friday7:
Romania election: Polls open in tight presidential runoff. Deutsche Welle 05/18/2025. <https://www.dw.com/en/romania-election-polls-open-in-tight-presidential-runoff/live-72578992> (Accessed: 2025-18-05).
Ross, Tim & Popoviciu, Andrei (2025): In Transylvania, fear haunts Romania’s troubled democracy. Politico 05/18/2026. <https://www.politico.eu/article/transylvania-romania-election-fear-politics-facist-totalitarian-democracy-corruption-president-vote-simion-dan/> (Accessed: 2025-18-05).
Jäger, Edmond (2025): Rumänien: Mit TikTok zur Wahlmanipulation. Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 3:2025, 29. My translation to English.
Berman, Lazar (2024): Romania ‘shocked’ by Israeli minister’s call with candidate who praised WWII antisemites. Times of Israel 12/02/2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/romania-shocked-by-israeli-ministers-call-with-candidate-who-praised-wwii-antisemites/> (Accessed: 2025-18-05).
Tibon, Amir (2024): Romania Accuses Israel of Election Interference After Netanyahu Minister's Call With pro-Nazi Candidate. Haaretz 11/30/2025. Gift link: <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-11-30/ty-article/.premium/israeli-ministers-call-to-pro-nazi-romanian-candidate-sparks-election-interference-claims/00000193-7e20-de89-abff-7ffb63590000?gift=f88159522d0049b28bb6cccda20a73e6> (Accessed: 2025-18-05).
Henley, Jon (2025): Romanian run-off the most crucial on Europe’s ‘Super Sunday’ of elections. Guardian 05/18/2025. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/18/romanian-run-off-the-most-crucial-on-europes-super-sunday-of-elections> (Accessed: 2025-18-05).
Romania elections: Is pro-Russian candidate on brink of victory? Channel 4 YouTube channel 05/16/2025.