Romanian leftists win parliamentary election amid uncertainty over presidency

BUCHAREST: Romanian centrist and leftist parties looked to have fended off a surge by the nationalist right in Sunday’s parliamentary election, as attention turned to a top court ruling later on Monday on whether to annul the results of a presidential vote.

Romania, a EU and Nato member, was thrown into turmoil by a shock result in the first round of the presidential vote on Nov 24. A little-known far-right candidate surged to victory, raising suspicions of outside meddling in the electoral process of a country that has been a staunch ally of Ukraine.

Romania’s constitutional court ordered a recount of the first-round vote and is due to announce its decision on whether or not to validate the results of the ballot at 1500 GMT.

If the court approves the result, independent far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu will face centre-right contender Elena Lasconi in a run-off vote on Dec 8.

Romanian authorities say the country is a key target for hostile actors such as Russia, and have accused video streaming platform TikTok of giving preferential treatment to one candidate. Both Russia and TikTok deny any wrongdoing.

Sunday’s parliamentary election, the second of three ballots scheduled over a period of as many weeks, saw the ruling leftist Social Democrat (PSD) party come first, setting the stage for what is likely to be a period of coalition forming with centrist parties.

“We want a coalition that will continue Romania’s European course,” Social Democrat vice president Victor Negrescu was quoted as saying by the website of Stirile Pro TV.

“We expect the democratic, pro-European parties to understand that the Social Democratic Party can be the balancing factor around which a future majority can be formed.”

President’s role

With 99.78% of votes counted in the parliamentary ballot, the PSD won 22.4% of votes, ahead of the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians with 18.2%.

Lasconi’s centrist opposition Save Romania Union (USR) had 12.2%, while the junior ruling coalition ally Liberals had 14.3%. Two far-right groupings, SOS and POT, had 7.7% and 6.3%, respectively, and the ethnic Hungarian Party UDMR 6.4%.

Liberal leader Ilie Bolojan said the party was “willing to participate in… a coalition so that we can be a modernising factor for our country”.

However, who gets to form the government will ultimately depend on who wins the presidential race, since the president designates a prime minister, and the timeline for that is unclear.

This means Georgescu could potentially be in a position to give far-right parties, who together won over 30% of the vote, the chance to form a government.

The leader of the far-right SOS grouping, Diana Sosoaca, appealed for unity among the nationalist parties.

“I call on all patriotic, sovereigntist, nationalist forces to come together and form a nationalist government, even a minority one,” she was quoted as saying by the website of Digi 24 TV.