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submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] gon@lemm.ee 53 points 4 months ago

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?

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 78 points 4 months ago

Paradox of tolerance. Don’t fall for it. Fascists do not now, and will never, get the benefit of the doubt.

[-] gon@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 54 points 4 months ago

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).

[-] gon@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago

Georgescu has strong ties to them

I see he's praised the Iron Guard before. Makes sense.

[-] TugOfWarCrimes@sh.itjust.works 33 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] gon@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

[-] troed@fedia.io 9 points 4 months ago

You misspelled "deliver for Putin". A lot of countries have laws against foreign influence attacks on their elections.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

[-] gon@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

I guess we'll see...

this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
493 points (100.0% liked)

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