Who is Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian candidate who came first in the first round of the presidential elections?

A far-right, pro-Russian candidate won the first round of Romania’s presidential election on Sunday, November 24, an unexpected result that could threaten Romania’s staunchly pro-Ukrainian position.

The poll results mark one of the biggest electoral surprises since the end of the communist era in Romania, with the leaders of the two largest parties, the left-wing Social Democrats and the centre-right Liberals, who formed a coalition government, being eliminated in the first. round. Some polls give Calin Georgescu only 5% of voting intentions during the election campaign, which he carried out mainly on the social network TikTok.