Romania’s political future remains unclear on Monday, following the legislative elections, which led to a fragmented Parliament and in which the extreme right registered an ascent, a week before the second round of the presidential elections, reports AFP.
AFP: Romania does not emerge from the political fog, despite the legislative elections Photo Inquam Photos
The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the successor of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), came out on top in the voters’ preferences, with 22% of the votes. In second place is the AUR party, which registered 18% of the votes. This is the first of the three parties in the nationalist bloc, which obtained a total of almost 32% of the votes, i.e. three times more than the score recorded by AUR in 2020, at that time alone in the race.
Never since the fall of communism in 1989 has Romania known such an upsurge, fueled by the anger of a large part of its 19 million inhabitants against economic difficulties, the war across the border and a traditional political class that it considers arrogant and disconnected, writes AFP.
The future Assembly “will be extremely fragmented and without a dominant party”, Marius Ghincea, a political scientist from ETH in Zurich, told AFP.
Along with AUR, SOS Romania, led by the pro-Russian candidate Diana Şoşoacă, and the new Party of Young People (POT) – both entering the Parliament -, the extreme right “is the most important bloc”, said Sergiu Mişcoiu , a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (north-west).
These nationalist parties oppose supporting Ukraine and not “peace” and the promise of defending “Christian values”. But they are “internally divided”, recalls Ghincea, and they do not have enough weight to govern without another ally. Several political leaders have called for a decidedly pro-European “Government of National Unity”.
But everything will depend on “who will be the new head of state, for whom the nomination of the prime minister is in hand”, reveals Mişcoiu, who evokes this key role of the head of state.
The second round of the presidential elections will be a decisive moment for Romania’s political stability. It will take place on Sunday, December 8.
In the first round of elections, Călin Georgescu, an anti-Europe, anti-West, pro-Russian candidate, came in first place. He made several worrying statements regarding the war in Ukraine, Romania’s foreign relations and the country’s membership status in several international organizations.
His opponent is Elena Lasconi, from the USR party. It got 19% of the votes. The USR party ranked fourth in the parliamentary elections, with 12.4% of the votes cast on Sunday.
“Much now depends” on the PSD, which did not openly express its support for this candidate”said Sergiu Miscoiu.
The success of Georgescu, a 62-year-old “anti-vax” and an admirer of Vladimir Putin, triggered demonstrations among young Romanians.
“In the current atmosphere, I don’t think so that we will allow ourselves not to vote, especially considering the extremist wave that took us”, declares Ilinca Chifane, aged 22, who is not “surprised” by the results, due to the rise of nationalisms in Europe.
