Romanian leftist PM and hard-right candidate in a tie after initial presidential election round, partial results show

This content was published on November 25, 2024 - 00:18

2 minutes

By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST (Reuters) -A Romanian hard-right NATO critic and leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu appeared in dead heat after the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, partial tallies showed, in a shock result threatening Romania’s staunchly pro-Ukraine stance.

After nearly 90% of votes were counted, Calin Georgescu, 62, was at 22%, while Ciolacu had 21.7%. However, ballots from the sizeable Romanian diaspora, which are not included in the main tally, showed a centre-right politician, Elena Lasconi, 52, first with 33.4% and Georgescu second.

Romania’s president has a semi-executive role that gives him or her control over defence spending – likely to be a difficult issue as Bucharest comes under pressure to uphold NATO spending goals during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president while trying to reduce a heavy fiscal deficit.

Lasconi told supporters after exit polls were released giving her a small lead over Georgescu, with Ciolacu in first place, that she was optimistic about making the runoff. “But as you can see, the results are very tight, let us wait until tomorrow’s results to rejoice.”

Campaigning focused largely on the soaring cost of living, with Romania having the EU’s biggest share of people at risk of poverty.

Georgescu is a former prominent member of the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians party.

In 2021 he has called NATO’s ballistic missile defense shield in the Romanian town of Deveselu a “shame of diplomacy” and said the North Atlantic alliance will not protect any of its members should they be attacked by Russia.

Lasconi, a former journalist, joined the Save Romania Union (USR) in 2018 and became party head this year. She believes in raising defence spending and helping Ukraine, and surveys suggest she would beat Ciolacu in a runoff.

Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and since Russia attacked Kyiv in 2022, it has enabled the export of millions of tons of grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta and provided military aid, including the donation of a Patriot air defence battery.

“It will be a tight run-off, with the Social Democrat leader more vulnerable to negative campaigning due to him being an incumbent PM,” said political commentator Radu Magdin.

(Editing by Justyna Pawlak, Jane Merriman, Ros Russell, Kevin Liffey and Diane Craft)