A far-right candidate is taking a shocking lead in Romania’s presidential election

A right-wing, pro-Russian candidate has taken an unexpected lead in the first round of Romania’s presidential election.

With more than 99% of votes counted, nationalist Calin Georgescu was on 23%, followed by centre-right candidate Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union and social democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the pre-election favourite, in third place .

The strong showing of Georgescu, who does not have his own party, and who campaigned mainly on the social media platform TikTok, was the biggest surprise of the election.

The latest count suggests Ms Lasconi is slightly ahead of Mr Ciolacu by around 2,000 people, and will face Calin Georgescu in the final presidential run-off on 8 December.

Ciolacu resigned from his post as leader of the Social Democrats on Monday morning.

Political analyst Radu Magdin said Georgescu’s support was unprecedented, as previous opinion polls put him at around 5% of the vote.

“In our 34 years of democracy, we have never seen such an increase compared to the polls,” said Mr. Magdin.

The victory of Georgescu, who campaigned under the slogan “Restore the dignity of the Romanian nation”, was warmly received in the Russian media.

He previously criticized the Nato ballistic missile defense shield deveselu in southern Romania as a “disgrace”.

Georgescu was a prominent figure in another far-right party, George Simion’s AUR (GOLD), which eventually expelled him for being too radical, after he praised the leaders of the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist organization during World War II.

But on Sunday night, George Simion endorsed Georgescu, and urged the 1.3 million voters who voted for him on Sunday to support Georgescu in the run-off.

Georgescu’s success creates a crisis for millions of Romanians who voted for other candidates.

If Elena Lasconi reaches the second round, as expected, many supporters of the Social Democrats, especially in rural areas, may find it difficult to support such a liberal, progressive figure.

Campaigning for this election has focused heavily on the rising cost of living, as Romania has the EU’s largest share of people at risk of poverty. Resentment of the provision of Ukrainian refugees to Romania also played a role.

Romania’s president has a largely symbolic role but also a significant influence in areas such as foreign policy.

The result was 51%, similar to the figure of five years ago.