Călin Georgescu barely ranked in national opinion polls, did not take part in major television debates and does not even belong to a political party. But he is leading the race to become Romania’s next president.
His shocking rise from obscurity on Sunday in the first round of the country’s presidential election propelled the 62-year-old Georgescu, a far-right, NATO-sceptic Russia fan, into a runoff against a mainstream candidate.
The crucial round of elections on December 8 will decide whether Georgescu takes control of this strategically located country of 19 million people, which borders Ukraine on the eastern edge of the European Union.
At stake is the leadership of a key member of the Western alliance at a critical time. Ukraine and its allies are standing firm against the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin, knowing that Donald Trump will take office in the United States in January and has promised to end the war within a day.
So far, Romania has played a supporting role in Western support for Ukraine, opening the port of Constanţa as an important route for the export of Ukrainian grain exports and the arrival of military supplies. The war has also increased the strategic importance of the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Force. The Black Sea base is on track to become NATO’s largest base.
But all that could change if Georgescu takes charge.
Silver-haired, slim and clean-shaven, Georgescu spent much of his career in the civil service, specializing in agricultural matters. Indeed, food policy figured prominently in his politics, and he called for the country to become more self-sufficient in both agricultural production and energy production.
In Romania he became involved in nationalist politics and was mentioned as a potential prime ministerial candidate for the far-right AUR party. Like several other leading right-wing extremists in Europe, including France’s Jordan Bardella and Britain’s Nigel Farage, Georgescu has gained a large following on social media, where he appears to have launched his campaign for the presidency this year.
In addition to Instagram and Twitter accounts, Facebook groups and pages were created to support his political activities.
Judo enthusiast Georgescu has around 3.8 million likes on TikTok and 298,000 followers, while his videos regularly attract millions of views. During the campaign, accounts with bot-like behavior were very active in comments on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. Some also attacked his rivals.
Clips of Georgescu went viral on TikTok, often produced in the subversive, populist style of controversial influencer Andrew Tate, accompanied by dramatic music and captions. Georgescu was shown barely breaking a sweat on the running track, knocking down his opponents in judo – à la Putin – and riding a white horse in a traditional Romanian shirt.
In many ways, Georgescu fits the image of the radical right-wing populist in 2024. He speaks plainly, avoids Western orthodoxy, is loathed by the mainstream media and has been more than friendly towards Russia.
Among Europe’s former communist states, Romania has historically been one of the most skeptical of Moscow, but Georgescu’s enthusiasm for Putin does not appear to have cost him the election. Putin shows that he loves his country, Georgescu said, adding that Romania could use some Russian wisdom.
He has also criticized the EU; claimed that NATO would never fight for Romania in the event of an attack; He called for an end to the war in Ukraine and argued that President Volodymyr Zelensky was bad for his country. Meanwhile, the U.S. missile defense system stationed at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania is a matter of national “disgrace,” Georgescu argued, and promotes conflict.
According to Marius Ghincea, a political scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Georgescu’s meteoric rise was due to voters’ disillusionment with Romania’s two largest mainstream parties, which have been in a grand coalition since 2021 and are considered “incompetent.”
“The crisis triggered by the pandemic, inflation and the various crises that Romania has experienced in recent years… has weakened trust in the establishment,” he said. Georgescu’s relative obscurity may also have helped him, he added.
Who influenced Georgescu’s political views? If its taste for historical models is anything to go by, the West has reason to worry.
He has described the 1989 revolution that ended decades of communist rule as a coup that the West used to steal Romania’s resources and claimed the country was now enslaved by the West.
He was investigated by prosecutors for claiming in 2022 that Ion Antonescu, Romania’s World War II prime minister who enabled the Holocaust, and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu – another violent, anti-Semitic nationalist – were heroes.
Georgescu has also embraced a number of conspiracy theories and openly flaunts his religious beliefs to counter the country’s core Orthodox Christian electorate.
In 2020, he posted a video of himself bathing in cold water and said it was the best vaccine against the coronavirus. In a 2024 podcast, he said that Covid doesn’t exist, that no one has ever seen the virus, and that “the only true science is Jesus Christ.”
He has also said that he does not have a political campaign but “a calling” and that his political party is Romania.
Strangely for such a successful politician, Georgescu lacks a campaign headquarters. After his stunning first-round win on Sunday, reporters waited for him outside his home.
He indicated he was not bearing any campaign costs and said: “We are in God’s hands.”
