Court confirms exclusion

Putin’s candidate may not run in Romania

Georgescu is said to be close to the Kremlin

(Bild: AFP/Mihai Barbu)

The Romanian Constitutional Court has confirmed the exclusion of a pro-Russian candidate. Calin Georgescu will not appear on the ballot as a presidential candidate. For the 62-year-old, this means the final end to his candidacy.

The ultra-right candidate of choice of US Vice-President JD Vance and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin no longer has the opportunity to object. On Sunday evening, the electoral commission ruled that Georgescu's actions and statements were in blatant contradiction to the values required for the highest office in the state.

The electoral commission had also referred to the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the annulment of the presidential election. The electoral commission had argued that the candidacy of a person who was de facto responsible for the aforementioned election annulment was clearly inadmissible.

The first round of the presidential election was annulled by the constitutional guardians at the beginning of December last year due to the findings of the country's secret services and some NATO partners regarding massive election interference by Russia in favor of Georgescu - which US Vice President Vance clearly denounced at the Munich Security Conference.

The right must regroup
Romania's ultra-right-wing camp is therefore without a presidential candidate for the time being, although time is pressing - the deadline for presidential candidacies is March 15. According to Romanian media, the head of the right-wing populist AUR, George Simion, is now likely to be hastily nominated as a replacement candidate.

Simion had previously refused to run again, but is now likely to be urged by his party to run again. Simion had performed disappointingly in the annulled first round of the presidential election in late fall 2024 and did not make it to the run-off.

Georgescu supporters before the Constitutional Court

(Bild: ROBERT GHEMENT)

Romanian political observers therefore assume that Simion, hoping to increase his popularity and poll ratings, will run on a kind of "ticket" with Georgescu and could enter the election campaign with the promise of appointing the latter as prime minister if he is elected.