When the Romanian establishment blocked presidential candidate Călin Georgescu from running, they seemingly believed that they were doing themselves a favour. After all, Georgescu was a fiery right-wing candidate, and his election would have been a slap in the face to their liberal democratic values. But after the results came in from the first round of Romania’s presidential elections on May 4, the opposite was revealed: their actions have likely triggered a worst-case scenario for themselves.  

The results of the first round are both surprising and completely unsurprising. They are completely unsurprising because the headline – right-wing populist beats the establishment – has been repeated so often over the past ten years that it has become etched into the eyes of politicos. They are surprising because of how significantly the first-round winner, George Simion, won over the second-place finisher, Niçusor Dan. Polls had projected Simion to win in the low 30s; he instead garnered over 40 per cent.

This election was unlike other elections, as it was indeed a do-over. The Supreme Court had cancelled the previous elections after Georgescu, another right-wing candidate, shockingly won the first round. The annulment was necessary, the Court argued, because Romanians have a “right to be informed” and that a Russian campaign allegedly to mass-purchase TikTok accounts violated that right. This was absurd logic, of course. This argument could have been basically used to cancel any election, ever, and essentially put into law the (somewhat arrogant) idea that, if Romanians had been “properly informed,” they of course would not have voted for Georgescu. Plus, it turned out that a centre-right party had purchased the TikTok Accounts to boost Georgescu – someone they hadn’t thought could win – over Simion.