Romania’s farcical ‘democracy’ exposed as Georgescu barred

Three months after the scandalous cancellation of the presidential election results, the Romanian establishment remains mired in political turmoil.

Their attacks on anti-establishment demagogue Călin Georgescu reached their highest point on Sunday when he was barred from standing in the rescheduled elections in May. But this will fail to bring a return to ‘politics as usual’. Large protests and street clashes have already erupted in Bucharest and other big cities.

The genie is out of the bottle. Everyone can see the real anti-democratic face of the Romanian establishment. Ahead of the rescheduled elections in May, the Romanian ruling class will only see a deepening crisis and simmering anger.

Georgescu and the attacks by the establishment

A lot has happened since the annulment of the presidential elections last December. Having alleged that Russia intervened to promote Georgescu’s campaign on TikTok (!!) and that this somehow led to his thumping victory in November, the Constitutional Court and President Iohannis have failed to provide any hard evidence to back their decision.

This led to an impeachment vote against Iohannis, which forced him to resign and end his ten-year tenure in disgrace. The interim president replacing him is Ilie Bolojan, the National Liberal Party candidate who only received 7 percent of the vote in the November presidential election, revealing the ruling party's unpopularity in government.

Meanwhile, Georgescu’s appeal against the cancellation of the results was rejected, and the establishment resorted to all kinds of dirty manoeuvres to block Georgescu from standing in the May elections.

On 26 February, Georgescu was detained on the streets of Bucharest by the police, as he was on his way to register his candidacy / Image: Focus Creștin, Wikimedia Commons

On 26 February, Georgescu was detained on the streets of Bucharest by the police, as he was on his way to register his candidacy. Many accusations were brought against him, including expressing support for fascist groups and figures. This is not false, but it stinks of hypocrisy coming from the Romanian government. They arm and support the Ukrainian government, which openly lauds fascist figures like Stepan Bandera, whilst open neo-Nazis in the Azov battalion are part of its army.

The court ruled that Georgescu could not leave the country and limited his ability to use social media and campaign openly for 60 days. He registered his candidacy on Friday but, only two days later, the Central Election Bureau (CEB) barred him from standing.

However, there is very little cause for celebration among the establishment parties and politicians. The fact that they have had to go through all of this trouble to block a single candidate has boosted Georgescu’s image, popularity and prestige. Of course, Georgescu’s personality is secondary in all of this. They are scared of the mass anger that they regard him as recklessly whipping up against the Romanian establishment, and they fear he would lean more towards Russia and away from NATO and the EU.

All of the major polls ahead of the May election place Georgescu ahead of every established candidate, predicting a 40-50 percent sweep for him in the first round. The support he has rallied around himself as a persecuted anti-establishment figure can be seen in the frequent demonstrations around the country calling for his release and reinstatement as a candidate, which have outnumbered the pro-EU, so-called ‘pro-democracy’ protests.

To have let such a man run for the presidency would have been too dangerous for the Romanian ruling class. But by blocking him, they have poured more petrol onto the fire and have exposed Romania’s democracy as a complete facade. Unless your candidate is subservient to NATO and the EU, and questions none of the ruling class’ decisions, then he is not allowed to run.

The European establishment and the Trump administration

Back in December, the scandalous annulment of the elections was met with much approval by top European figures, such as former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, and mainstream papers like The Guardian and El Pais. They claimed that it was an example to be followed to prevent the rise of populists like Georgescu, and even to safeguard democracy!

A speech by US Vice-President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference dealt a real gut punch to the Romanian and European top brass / Image: public domain

On the other side of the Atlantic, however, some key figures in Donald Trump’s administration have spoken out against this blatant manoeuvre and the backing it received from many European leaders. Elon Musk posted several inflammatory statements on X, backing Georgescu and lambasting the Romanian courts.

A speech by US Vice-President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference dealt a real gut punch to the Romanian and European top brass, sharply criticising their frail ‘democratic’ credentials after cancelling the elections. One statement in particular is worth noting:

“You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage, even. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with.” [Our emphasis]

Liberal commentators could only complain about Vance’s very blunt tone, but they could not address the truth contained in his statement.

After all, the Romanian rulers like to brag that theirs is a ‘pluralist’ democracy, where many candidates and parties can run in elections. But when you look at the list of candidates running in May, you can see that aside from minor differences, they all stand for the same thing.

All of their programmes read like a copy-and-paste variation of each other’s, and can be boiled down to three very simple points:

1) Commitment to membership of NATO and the EU.
2) Continued military and financial support for Ukraine.
3) Increased defence spending while continuing cuts to education, transport, healthcare, housing and wages.

In such a situation, it was very easy for Georgescu to come in and sledgehammer everything that was well-known and well-established about Romanian politics. To do this, he only had to tap into the seething, boiling anger lying deep within Romanian society, and bring it to the surface – on the streets and at the ballot box.

What does Georgescu represent?

Liberals have tried to give several explanations for the rise of Georgescu and his shock victory in November. They have blamed ‘disinformation’, ‘TikTok algorithms’, ‘Russian interference’, and even the alleged stupidity of Romanian voters! Of course, they are too scared to admit what lies behind all of this: the crisis of capitalism, and the mass distrust towards the liberal establishment and its institutions.

As we have stated previously, Georgescu is a complete right-wing reactionary. Communists have absolutely nothing in common with him, except for our anti-establishment stance. He is trying to distort this anger and polarisation in a right-wing, ultra-nationalist direction. But what he is exposing is something much deeper than a supposed ‘shift to the right’ in society.

In reality, he is bringing to light the very real problems that millions of ordinary workers suffer from: poverty and low wages which push many Romanians to emigrate; the lack of adequate housing, hospitals, and schools; and the government supporting war abroad while implementing austerity at home. By tapping into the mass anger against the establishment to propel himself into the presidential race, he has also served to expose the rotten, decrepit nature of capitalist democracy.

We are seeing a pitchfork rebellion by the masses of angry and disgruntled Romanians against the Romanian state and its institutions / Image: Privesc.Eu România, Wikimedia Commons

The reason this hatred and anger is finding a temporary expression with Georgescu is because of the non-existence of a significant force on the left. Traditionally, the ‘left’ in Romania was considered to be the Social Democratic Party (PSD). They are now standing a joint candidate with the National Liberal Party in May. To call this ‘left-wing’ would be a joke.

But many ordinary workers at Georgescu’s protests do not necessarily subscribe to his right-wing, xenophobic ideas. As a matter of fact, the main slogans at these supposed ‘far-right’ protests are for democracy and free elections, i.e. what the so-called ‘democratic’ establishment trampled upon when it annulled the election results and barred Georgescu’s candidacy. Other slogans have included “Thieves!” and “Down with the government!” In his speeches, Georgescu himself railed against the ‘system’ and the ‘oligarchs’ that have blocked him.

In other words, we are seeing a pitchfork rebellion by the masses of angry and disgruntled Romanians against the Romanian state and its institutions. Georgescu has been able to capitalise upon it to his favour, but by stirring this deep-seated anger he is unleashing forces that he will not be able to control.

Now that Georgescu cannot run in the election, the situation is open-ended. What will very likely happen is that George Simion, the leader of Georgescu’s affiliate party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), will run in his place, to provide an outlet for Georgescu’s angry base while watering down his anti-NATO and EU programme.

But regardless of the outcome of the May elections, the instability will only get worse. A boiling, palpable anger is building deep within Romanian society, waiting to explode. Romania is entering a period of sharp turns and sudden changes. Dynamite is being built into the very foundations of Romanian capitalism.

With their every attempt to ensure stability and a return to normalcy, the capitalist establishment is losing its grip on the situation. They will become more discredited as the crisis of capitalism deepens, and the anger in society finds more explosive outlets. Sooner or later, Romanian capitalism will be shaken to its very foundations.

In the Revolutionary Communist International, we are building a revolutionary party that can hasten the overthrow of capitalism in Romania and all over the world. If you want to eliminate this oppressive system once and for all, get in touch with us.