Summary
Romania’s electoral commission barred far-right candidate Calin Georgescu from the presidential election without explanation.
Georgescu, who led polls with 40%, called the move “a direct blow to democracy” and plans to appeal. His supporters protested in Bucharest.
The constitutional court annulled his prior election win over alleged Russian interference, which he denies. He faces legal issues, including accusations of financing violations and extremist ties.
A vocal Trump supporter, Georgescu received backing from Trump officials, including Elon Musk and JD Vance, who condemned Romania’s actions.
They did release an official statement later in the day to explain the rejection: https://adevarul.ro/stiri-interne/evenimente/de-ce-a-respins-bec-candidatura-lui-georgescu-2427400.html
And the full document: https://www.realitatea.net/stiri/politica/cum-explica-bec-respingerea-candidaturii-lui-calin-georgescu-document-oficial_67cdfbf3430c6b3d205eb226
Unfortunately, it’s still kind of abstract and legalese, with not further proof of interference. And it’s mostly self referencing the previous annulment as the cause.
Călin Georgescu’s candidacy does not meet the conditions of legality, as he “by failing to respect the rules of the electoral procedure, violated the very obligation to defend democracy”, which is based on “fair, honest and impartial” elections.
While it’s good avoid another Putin lapdog, the way in which this was done might come back to bite them in the ass.
Why does this use 40% instead of the percentage of votes he got in the last election: 23%
damn. they should do the sort of thing in other countries
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this pretty much confirms that the leading parties have been colluding to manipulate elections. The ideal situation would have been him getting his ass whoopped by being voted out. On the other, there was a non-zero chance that he might actually have won.
Either way, the shitshow is not even close to being over. These parties make up 32% of our current parliament, and they’re likely to grow after this stunt, so we’ll have to deal with this crap again during the next election cycle, or sooner.
As a Romanian I’m on the same page as you. While I completely despise this guy for his ties to the fascist movement in Romania, his corrupted political allies, and his closeness to dictators like Trump and Putin, barring him from running for office is a big mistake if no concrete evidence against him is actually laid out. A democracy should be transparent. This entire ordeal wasn’t.
If you allow foreign dictatorships to influence your democracy then are you really a democracy at all? Better to nip people like this in the bud.
Also the legal grounds for their removal was their ties to the Iron Guard, which is illegal.
Also people of that kind love nothing more than being a martyr, which means if the whole decision is not absolutely bulletproof, this has the potential to backfire so much. Not Romanian, but I was listening some opinion piece about this just few days ago.
A vocal Trump supporter, Georgescu received backing from Trump officials, including Elon Musk and JD Vance,
Romania, good job.
Why doesn’t Romania want their political system and economy destabilized because of morons?
fascists deserve to be barred from oxygen
Well, on one hand, I like the far-right getting some institutional push-back. On the other hand, I’m a little concerned with both the state of democracy — that such a candidate could get so many votes — and the disregard for the people’s vote — while there may have been significant Russian interference, to what extent should the courts intervene with what seems to be a genuinely popular candidate?
There is strong legal backing to this. Romania bars anyone with ties to or rhetoric similar to the Iron Guard (Romanian fascists) from running. Georgescu has strong ties to them, and he’s not even the only politician barred from running due to this for this election (Sosoaca).
Georgescu has strong ties to them
I see he’s praised the Iron Guard before. Makes sense.
Not to mention, their open ties to the fascist party running the USA is also quite problematic. Very very high chance of foreign interference.
Paradox of tolerance. Don’t fall for it. Fascists do not now, and will never, get the benefit of the doubt.
Sigh… I really don’t like the way things have been going in Europe…
Hey man, I know it’s kinda crazy. But overall, it’s better than what’s happening over here in the states.
He was talking more about the will of the people, but okay.
Your feelings are more important.
Fascist apologist says what?
There hasn’t been any will of the people expressed yet. The guy is a Russian asset with zero spine and he’s been eliminated from the race. The people will get to express their will with the other candidates, of which they’ll have many.
There hasn’t been any will of the people expressed yet.
Georgescu, who led polls with 40%
More lies from the left.
In the last election, 11.77% of people voted for him(23% of voters). That is more than any other candidate though
It’s a shitshow if you look at it closely. Basically he got so many votes because the ruling party wanted to try the pied piper strategy that gave the US Trump. That included giving his campaign illegal support, which invalidated the previous election. And now they’re just outright going to ban him. They’re just throwing away democracy and pretending they’re saving democracy.
Not that I want the guy to win or be anywhere near power, but it’s a strategy that will backfire eventually and has in many countries. But I guess the alternative is to actually deliver for the people and that’s obviously unacceptable.
I guess we’ll see…
You misspelled “deliver for Putin”. A lot of countries have laws against foreign influence attacks on their elections.
While I’m sure Putin loves this candidate as well, he was supported by another party within the country. And by deliver for the people, I mean end austerity. If people all have housing, food, jobs, etc, they’re not going to fall for the far right playbook.
It’s a tough call to make, isn’t it? Baring a candidate is inherently undemocratic, surely in a perfect democracy any candidate who is receiving votes should be considered. However given the current state of global politics, it’s also equally true that any candidate who is being manipulated by an outside government (such as allegedly Russia/USA in this example) should be restricted for the very same reasoning of allowing the voters to have their say without interference or manipulation by people who have an interest in the election being decided undemocraticly.
Ultimately, the decision to prevent any candidate, popular or not, is one that should not be taken lightly. And yet must also be a decision that can and should be made under the right conditions to protect the democratic nature of elections.
I sincerely hope that the people who made the decision in this case explain their reasoning publicly, and have a very good justification for doing so.
Yeah, I do suppose you’re right on that… We’ll wait and see. At the end of the day, I guess it’s the Romanian people that’ll have to decide whether this was acceptable or not, too.
It’s a tough question but I don’t think it’s hypocritical.
A good government serves two roles: (a) to protect the rights of its citizens, and (b) to enact policy that is representative of its citizens (as shown by popular vote and opinion, usually). But no policy should be allowed to supersede a real right, no matter how popular.
So if a candidate is going to subjugate rights as a matter of policy, that government is right to bar them, even if that is undemocratic. Minds can differ on what rights have primacy, and how nuanced those rights are, but I think it’s coherent.
That’s a good way to put it, thanks! :D
This is the most reasonable assessment in my opinion. The very same people down voting you would go apeshit if the Supreme Court barred what they deemed a far left candidate. If people don’t like right-wing politicians then they should demand a candidate passionate about popular policies to oppose them. However barring or attempting to, like Democrats did with Bernie, & has other candidates during debates & on the ballots, helped give us Trump.
This is the most reasonable assessment in my opinion.
I wasn’t really assessing anything per se, more so asking a genuine question about whether this kind of thing should happen. I’ll say, I know Lemmy can be a little… Politically interesting… But I was not expecting downvotes for such a mild reply.
But yeah, I’ve actually been thinking about this for quite a while. I really think that, if we want leftist policies implemented, we really do need a charismatic candidate and a compelling narrative that can compete with what the right is pushing.
Imagine if there was a candidate in the 60s that was obviously funded by the CCP and supported by its propaganda machine, which was plotting to surrender its country to the CCP, while being a vocal supporter of planned economics and thumping Mao’s little red book like the Bible. I think a lot of leftists would agree that such a party, though far-left on its face at least, would have been undemocratic at its core and not in the interest of the country itself.
It is in my mind very misleading to try to use an analogy with Bernie Sanders. Sanders, AFAIK, is not interested in upheaving democracy or selling out the country to Russia. This is fundamentally different from many current far-right parties in Eastern Europe.
Now, is it a wise strategy to straight up bar Georgescu’s party without explaining the reasoning as the article claims has been done? Perhaps not (though ample evidence supporting the decision has been provided previously by Romanian intelligence agencies). But one can understand why extreme measures might be called for to counter the electoral interference of a country that is actively invading your neighbor and has openly talked about wanting your country to become a puppet, too.
From ISW, "Georgescu has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership and “wisdom” and claimed in 2022 that Ukraine is an “invented state.” ( https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/likely-kremlin-backed-election-interference-against-romania-threatens-bucharests ) Could you find a similarly extreme and anti-democratic view espoused by a “far-left” leader that you think non-tankie leftists commonly support? If you still don’t see how extreme Georgescu’s party is and why they can be rightfully called a Russian agent I highly recommend checking out the ISW article, actually it’s well worth reading either way. Georgescu was even too explicit a Russian stooge for other ultranationalists to stomach (for a while).
It is in my mind very misleading to try to use an analogy with Bernie Sanders. Sanders, AFAIK, is not interested in upheaving democracy or selling out the country to Russia. This is fundamentally different from many current far-right parties in Eastern Europe.
I think you’re forgetting a little bit of history bud:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774/
https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/politics/donna-brazile-2016-primary/index.html
to what extent should the courts intervene with what seems to be a genuinely popular candidate?
It all depends on who you ask.
If you ask the average leftist on English-speaking internet forums, they will say the will of the people should always be disregarded in favor of the will of the leftist. They really are that childish.
He is a popular candidate, but he is also hated by a lot of romanians for being a pro russian fascist who thinks carbonated juices contain nanochips and who was allegedly funded and supported by Russia
If you ask the average leftist on English-speaking internet forums
Seems pretty obvious you haven’t actually interacted with an average leftist, let me tell you, because that is not true…
I’ll say though, I’m torn, but leaning towards thinking this really wasn’t that bad. There’s a difference between allowing right-wing policy and opening the door to fascism. Should poison be allowed to run for main course?
Călin Georgescu seems to be a pretty clear-cut fascist, to be honest.
Seems pretty obvious you haven’t actually interacted with an average leftist, let me tell you, because that is not true…
No, it most certainly is true. The left has decided that it’s acceptable and encouraged to stoop to the level of their enemies. You probably disagree with this because it’s a hard truth you don’t want to acknowledge; don’t worry, I see it all the time.
There’s a difference between allowing right-wing policy and opening the door to fascism. Should poison be allowed to run for main course?
Now that’s an actual discussion to be had. I, personally, think representative democracies need to go the way of the dodo and we should move to direct voting. I try not to reason about a broken system that is rotten to the core. It’s a waste of time and an effective distraction from what we should be doing instead.
No, it most certainly is true. The left has decided that it’s acceptable and encouraged to stoop to the level of their enemies. You probably disagree with this because it’s a hard truth you don’t want to acknowledge; don’t worry, I see it all the time.
Sigh, there’s no stats on this, so I’ll refrain from further discussion…
It’s a waste of time and an effective distraction from what we should be doing instead.
Well.
Unfortunately, the left has proven that they’re willing to tell a lie often enough until it becomes true. I wish I could take their accusations at face value, but too many of them lie and browbeat when they don’t get what they want, see: tantrum.
It’s a big reason why I’m proudly independent these days. Too many of you are hypocrites who are eager to criticize tactics of your enemies and then use them when it suits you.
Truth is the first casualty of war. We’re entering into a global trade war with useful idiots as the footmen. If you spread the FUD surrounding Huawe, for example, you are one of the foot soldiers.
Which “left” are you even talking about? Romania has virtually no left-wing parties. Even the social democratic party in Romania isn’t left wing, from their social policies to their economic ones. There’s no such thing as “the left” in Romanian politics.
There are left-wing parties, they just arent big enough to matter
Democracy is dying all over the world.
Edit: To the downvoters, do you think it is not? All of the democracy watchdogs say that it is. I’m in the US and it certainly is dying here.
People are downvoting because it seems you think democracy is dying because a far-right candidate was barred from elections. If this happened regularly all over the world, there would be no world-wide decline.
People are down voting you for your attitude. Stop whining and start doing something 🙄
They’re downvoting him because they want the will of the people to be invalidated when it goes against their agenda.
Stop whining and start doing something 🙄
Holy crap the shit you people throw to see what sticks only makes me happier I’m never loyal to your side.
The downvoters are happy when democracy dies if the democratic vote would support a candidate they don’t like.
It’s a major reason why I’m proudly independent at this point. Too many people are too proud to be hypocritical children and throw tantrums whenever they don’t get what they want.
It’s time to grow up from that shit.
