Romanian hard right says it wants to be part of new government

By Luiza Ilie

Romania's hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) party wants to be part of a coalition government, its leader said on Tuesday, as the nation eyes a presidential run-off vote that will decide who appoints the prime minister.

Hard-right and ultranationalist parties, including AUR, drew a sharp surge in support in a parliamentary election on Sunday, and while they lack a majority they garnered more than 30% of seats in the legislature.

A Constitutional Court ruling on Monday cleared the way for a presidential runoff next Sunday that will pit far-right candidate Calin Georgescu against centrist Elena Lasconi. If he wins it would boost the chances of an ultranationalist premier.

A Georgescu victory in the run-off would upend Romania's pro-Western orientation and erode its backing for neighbouring Ukraine in its battle against Russia's invasion. Romania is a member of NATO and the European Union.

The court had ordered a recount of the first round of the presidential election amid concerns over interference in the electoral process, but ultimately validated the result.

"As Romania's second-largest party we ... have the responsibility to come up with a credible vision," AUR leader George Simion said in remarks to foreign media.

"I would like to have a governmental coalition. If the next president of Romania nominates me as prime minister or asks our party to propose a name for prime minister, (then we will).

"We will stay and talk with every political force in the Romanian parliament," he said, speaking in English.

However, Simion ruled out cooperating with the leftist Social Democrats (PSD), who came first in Sunday's ballot.

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Georgescu's unexpected first-round win bolstered support for ultranationalist parties in Sunday's parliamentary vote. AUR more than doubled its seats and two splinter parties, one with overt pro-Russian sympathies, made it into the legislature.

Georgescu ran as an independent and has not backed any party, but he was once a member of AUR before leaving after praising Romania's 1930s fascist leaders as national heroes.

A survey conducted by pollster CURS on Dec. 1 at polling stations showed Georgescu would win 57.8% in a run-off to Lasconi's 42.2% among people who say they will vote. The survey polled 24,629 people after they cast their vote and had a margin of error of plus/minus 0.6%.

An admirer of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Simion has said he would stop military aid to Ukraine. He has opposed Holocaust education and gay marriage, and wants to recover territories that Romania lost during World War Two.

AUR has gone from being a fringe anti-vaccination group during the COVID-19 pandemic into Romania's leading opposition force, appealing to the working class diaspora and young voters and building on popular discontent with mainstream politicians.

Simion says he is not pro-Russian, calling President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, and supports Romania's NATO and EU membership status, though he condemns what he calls a "greedy, corrupt bubble" in EU headquarters Brussels. By contrast, Georgescu has called Putin a true leader and patriot.

Romanian authorities say the country has become a key target for hostile actors such as Russia, and have accused video streaming platform TikTok of giving preferential treatment to one candidate in the presidential election without specifically naming Georgescu. Both Russia and TikTok deny any wrongdoing.

TikTok executives on Tuesday defended the platform's conduct, telling a European Parliament committee that the company had taken action to disrupt covert networks.

"Back in September, we disclosed a network of 22 accounts from Romania targeting a Romanian audience, since then we've disrupted a further seven recidivists that have tried to come back to the platform," said Brie Pegum, TikTok's Global Head of Product for Authenticity & Transparency.

"Just on Friday last week, we disrupted two more networks... within Romania targeting a Romanian audience of 12 accounts and 78 accounts respectively."