Ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, who joined the presidential elections as an independent candidate, unexpectedly scored a first-round victory and will face reformist leader Elena Lasconi (USR) in the second round, the final results confirmed. Meanwhile, traditional parties PSD (Social Democrats) and PNL (Liberals) failed to pass the first round, triggering major electoral upsets.

According to the official results, more than 9.46 million Romanians voted in the first round of the presidential elections on November 24, representing 52.55% of the total. This was slightly above the 51.2% registered in the presidential election in 2019.

Far-right independent candidate Călin Georgescu scored a shock win, gathering some 2.12 million votes, or 22.94%. This was mainly a surprise because most of the opinion polls indicated Social Democrat leader and prime minister Marcel Ciolacu as the favorite, while Georgescu was rarely covered by the surveys or polled at low scores.

Reformist Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Save Romania Union (USR) party, also managed to surpass Marcel Ciolacu and claim a spot in the second round with 19.18% (or some 1.77 million votes).

According to the final results, Lasconi had only 2,740 votes more than Marcel Ciolacu. Thus, the PSD leader fell to third with 19.15%, marking an important setback for the PSD, as it is the first time that the Social Democrats failed to send their candidate in the final. 

Marcel Ciolacu stepped down from the helm of the Social Democrats on Monday after the result was confirmed but will remain prime minister until after the parliamentary elections of December 1.

Another far-right candidate, George Simion (AUR), was fourth with 13.86%, the final results also showed.

Meanwhile, Nicolae Ciucă, the Liberal candidate in the presidential elections, gathered only 8.79% of the votes - a record low for the Romanian Liberals' post-communist history. He also resigned as leader of PNL following the results.

Former NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană trailed in sixth with 6.32%.

Overall, the November 24 vote appears to punish Romania's two major and governing parties, PSD and PNL, for their performance, instead preferring a low-profile and lesser-known candidate like Călin Georgescu and small-town mayor Elena Lasconi. 

Meanwhile, the ultranationalist current, represented by AUR's George Simion and independent Călin Georgescu, has reached a score of roughly 36%. This leaves the parliamentary elections scheduled for next Sunday, December 1 (Romania's National Day), open to a surprise result as well, depending on who Georgescu's voters decide to support.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photos: Inquam Photos/Adriana Neagoe, Octav Ganea)