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Romania’s pro-Putin far-right candidate remains voters’ first choice in a presidential election rerun in May despite allegations of Russia aiding his bid, according to an opinion poll.
More than 40 per cent of respondents surveyed by Verifield in late December said they would back Călin Georgescu for the presidency.
The survey was carried out weeks after the country’s constitutional court annulled a first-round vote in which the far-right candidate came first, saying he probably benefited from an illegal campaign co-ordinated by Moscow.
The opinion poll was commissioned by Bucharest mayor, Nicușor Dan, a liberal pro-EU politician who plans to run for president in the May vote.
“Georgescu is undoubtedly the biggest danger Romanian democracy has faced in its post-communist history,” Dan told the Financial Times. “His recent performance and our polling numbers confirm that . . . this will be anything but a normal election, as the stakes are high and a large part of the electorate is very angry.”
Romanians will vote again on May 4, the coalition government announced late on Wednesday, with a May 18 run-off between the top two candidates if no one secures more than 50 per cent.
Dan polled third behind Georgescu and Crin Antonescu, who was nominated as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition. Antonescu has since “suspended” his bid over disagreements with the parties backing him.
Elena Lasconi, the pro-EU liberal politician who made it into the cancelled run-off with Georgescu, polled fourth in the survey, Dan said. Lasconi has indicated she is willing to drop out if Dan has a better shot at making it into the final round.
Lasconi has criticised the government for failing to sack anyone or present further evidence of Russian meddling.
“We still have to understand what really happened,” she told the FT. “It’s been a month already, yet there is no significant investigation going on.”
She said she was ready to stand again though warned that the authorities still seemed unprepared for the rerun. “We need a plan to avoid irregularities, including potential external interference,” she said.
Some experts have expressed doubts about the survey. Remus Pricopie, rector of the Bucharest-based University of Political Studies and Public Administration, criticised the mayor for an “irresponsible” release of what he called erroneous figures, which was “promoting a pro-Russian politician [and] trying to dismiss other serious candidates”.
Dan described the poll as “serious” but did not release the underlying data, saying it was commissioned for internal use by his campaign and conducted in the days before and after Christmas, when people were distracted by the holidays.
No other public opinion poll has been released following the cancelled presidential vote.
Georgescu has denied having any ties with Russia and has challenged the decision to scrap the vote, including at the European Court of Human Rights.
“If Romanian justice has not brought justice and honour to the Romanian people, then perhaps the international justice system from the ECHR will do so for the good of all,” Georgescu wrote on X. “The right to free will . . . was taken from us by corrupt and sinful politicians.”
The ECHR confirmed it had received Georgescu’s request and said it would examine it this month.
Georgescu has called on supporters to join a protest on Friday in front of the constitutional court, which can invalidate his presidential bid. If he is barred from running, far-right AUR party leader George Simion has said he is willing to stand in his place.
Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the presidential rerun was shaping up to be the “biggest challenge for the new government”.
“Should a government candidate succeed, the ruling coalition would have a greater chance of survival over the next four years.”
