Romania
bans second far-right hopeful from presidential election rerun
Diana
Șoșoacă’s exclusion follows expulsion of front-runner Călin Georgescu from race
amid rising tension around poll
AFP in
Bucharest
Sat 15 Mar
2025 21.10 GMT
Romania’s
electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana
Șoșoacă, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to
the May rerun of the poll.
Earlier in
March, the electoral bureau barred Călin Georgescu, an independent who was
polling at about 40% before the rerun election.
Georgescu, a
fierce EU and Nato critic, shot to prominence last November when he
unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting.
But the
constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference
and a “massive” social media promotion in his favour.
On Saturday,
an electoral commission statement said it had also taken the “decision to
reject the candidacy of Diana Șoșoacă”.
It noted
that the country’s constitutional court had already banned her from standing
last November for making declarations “contrary to democratic values”.
The
electoral office did, however, validate the candidacy of George Simion, leader
of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). Following the exclusion of
Georgescu, he is the most prominent figure on the far right still in the
running.
Șoșoacă, a
49-year-old Euro MP known for her pro-Russia views posted on Facebook: “I am
proof that we do not live in a democracy.” She said she would appeal the
ruling.
On Thursday,
she donned boxing gloves as she filed her candidacy, declaring herself ready to
“fight the system once again” as she bids to “make Europe and Romania great
again”, borrowing Trumpian terms.
Șoșoacă has
been accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda and antisemitic views.
She opposed
anti-Covid measures during the pandemic and, in July 2024, was expelled from
the European Parliament in Strasbourg after loudly interrupting debates.
Her small
party, SOS. Romania, won 24 seats after securing about 7% of votes in
December’s legislative elections.
Simion’s AUR
said banning Șoșoacă’s candidacy “represents a further blow to Romanian
democracy and a serious violation of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
The eastern
European state has been plunged into chaos since Georgescu’s surprise emergence
in November on the back of a huge TikTok social media campaign, which was
marred by suspicions of Russian interference.
In a shock
decision, the November election was cancelled and this week Georgescu was
definitively excluded from the election, the first round of which is scheduled
for 4 May.
Georgescu’s
exclusion led to some violent protests.
On Saturday,
several thousand people marched through Bucharest to express their attachment
to the EU.
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