Romania’s ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) was on course to win the most votes in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, holding off a strong far-right surge that could yet deliver the country’s presidency to a Moscow-friendly ultranationalist.
Amid uncertainty as to whether the constitutional court would on Monday order the first round of the presidential ballot to be rerun, officials said that with 99.5% of votes counted, the centre-left PSD was credited with 22.6% of the vote.
The far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) was in second place, with 18.2%, and the National Liberal party (PNL), the Social Democrats’ coalition ally in Romania’s outgoing government, in third on 14.4%.
With the centre-right Save Romania Union (USR) on 12.1%, the near-final result means about seven out of 10 Romanians voted for mainstream parties, defying predictions the country would veer hard right after the first round of the presidential election on 24 November.
That vote was won, after a campaign based heavily on viral TikTok videos that he said was run with zero budget, by the little-known far-right independent Călin Georgescu, prompting fears of foreign interference and a nationalist clean sweep.
In the event, with two other radical groups, SOS Romania and the party of Young People (POT), scoring 7.6% and 6.3% respectively, the far-right gains were substantial, amounting to about 28% of the vote – but not enough to win control of parliament.
Analysts said the far-right surge was fuelled by voter anger over the cost of living and a legacy of corruption among its mainstream parties. Romania has the EU’s biggest share of people at risk of poverty, highest inflation rate and largest budget deficit.
“Today the Romanian people voted for pro-sovereignty forces,” insisted the AUR leader, George Simion. “It is the beginning of a new era, in which the Romanian people reclaim the right to decide their own destiny,” he added.
Lasconi said the mainstream parties should set aside their differences to defend “democracy in Romania, staying in the European Union and in Nato”. Together, she told supporters after the parliamentary vote, “we can do wonders”.
But although in principle a pro-west, mainstream coalition led by the PSD looks a likely outcome, analysts said the highly fragmented nature of the new parliament meant that negotiations would prove very difficult and could take weeks.
The PSD will meet on Monday to decide its negotiating terms. “We expect democratic, pro-EU parties to understand that the PSD can be the balancing factor around which a future majority can be formed,” the party’s vice-president, Victor Negrescu, said.
Much will depend, however, on who wins the presidency, since a key responsibility of Romania’s heads of state is to name the prime minister. As things stand, Georgescu is due to face the USR’s Elena Lasconi in a presidential runoff on 8 December.
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That could change later on Monday when Romania’s constitutional court is due to announce its ruling on whether last Sunday’s first-round vote should be annulled amid continuing allegations of electoral fraud and external meddling.
The court has already ordered a recount and will decide whether on a possible rerun following a request by a defeated candidate to cancel the first round over allegations of illegal electoral activity on behalf of the pro-EU Lasconi.
Separately, the presidential office has said government officials had detected online efforts to influence voting in the presidential ballot, including “massive exposure due to preferential treatment” on TikTok.
The China-owned social media platform has repeatedly dismissed the allegations, saying it enforced all guidelines against election misinformation.
Georgescu has called for an end to the war in Ukraine, denied the existence of Covid-19, described two second world war-era Romanian fascists as “national heroes” and claimed that in foreign affairs Romania would benefit from “Russian wisdom”.
The electoral uncertainty has undermined public trust in Romania’s state institutions, with many voters saying they felt the constitutional court’s deliberations amounted to an attempt by the mainstream parties to cling on to power.
The parallel elections are seen as critical to the future direction of Romania, hitherto a reliable EU and Nato ally – and strategically important for western support for Ukraine – that has largely evaded nationalism since emerging from communism in 1989.
