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The rerun of the presidential vote in Romania did not show a significant difference from the first results, confirming that the Russian leader Călin Georgescu, who will meet with the liberal leader Elena Lasconi in the following Sunday.
The country’s top court last week took the step of ordering a recount amid fears of interference from Russia, citing surprise results that showed Georgescu leading the first vote.
The court on Monday accepted the results of the election after the recount did not find significant differences from the previous results, while Georgescu and Lasconi had to participate in the contest expected on December 8.
Canceling the initial results would have turned Georgescu into a “martyr”, warned Iulian Fota, the foreign ministry’s secretary of state for strategic affairs. He described the court’s decision to recount the votes as a “mistake” that caused “rumors and conspiracy theories” and discredited the electoral system.
Romania’s western partners are worried about its main ally turning to Moscow, as Bucharest is a member of Nato and the EU that has supported Western efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
Georgescu last week denied that he wanted to withdraw Romania from the US-led military alliance and said instead that he wanted to “renegotiate” its membership.
Lasconi on Monday thanked the court for “not playing Russian roulette with Romanian democracy” and urged all politicians “not to take away our country”.
Romania’s main parties were on course to retain control of the country’s parliament after last Sunday’s elections, although far-right groups supporting Georgescu’s presidency have made significant gains.
With 22.5 percent, Ciolacu’s center-left PSD party won the majority of votes in the election, after almost all votes were counted on Monday, followed by the right-wing nationalist AUR on 18 percent.
Apart from AUR, two smaller right-wing, pro-Russian parties that support Georgescu also entered the parliament – the SOS Romania party and the Party of Young People (POT), their results are still coming. one-third of the votes.
The centre-right PNL, Lasconi’s USR party and the smaller Hungarian UDMR party won another third of the vote. All major parties except PSD have supported Lasconi for the presidency.
“It is not clear whether PSD voters will support Lasconi even if their party endorses him,” said Aarhus University researcher Costin Ciobanu. “Some people can support Georgescu like PSD and the liberals have a conflicting history. A strong pro-European message can help many of them support Lasconi, if reluctantly.”
Treaty talks are expected to begin this week, including a major alliance of Western military forces that would keep “independent” forces at bay.
Due to the highly divided parliament, “the formation of a Euro-Atlantic democratic majority will not be easy,” said Ciobanu. “But it is important to take into account what a liberal president and / or government can bring to Romania.”
Senior political leaders stressed the need to resolve their differences and focus on one another sanitary cord far right rotation.
“We need to adopt in Romania the same strategy that works in Europe: to build a political majority in Europe and exclude extremists and populists,” said Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan, vice-chairman of the EPP group and the European Parliament , he said on Monday. .
“We must also deal with foreign interference in elections in EU member states effectively. The increase in terrorism in Romania is linked to Russian propaganda.”
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