Romania halts presidential elections, pro-Russian candidate Georgescu's campaign continues
Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, speaking for tabloid TV stations Realitatea and Romania TV, which are echoing his rhetoric despite repeated fines they have to pay, has continued to promote his conspiracy theories along with the…
iulian ernst · Journalist
· Updated · 3 min read
Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, speaking for tabloid TV stations Realitatea and Romania TV, which are echoing his rhetoric despite repeated fines they have to pay, has continued to promote his conspiracy theories along with the broad scenario of Soros-backed "globalists" fighting against sovereignists supported by elected US president Donald Trump on the territory of Romania.
One such theory is that canceling the presidential elections in Romania is an action organized by the incumbent US president, Joe Biden, who aims to involve his country and NATO in the war against Russia in Ukraine. This would allow Biden to remain in office, Calin Georgescu claimed – echoed by Romania TV journalists reporting from Washington about the imminent support letter expected from the team of elected president Trump in favour of Georgescu.
Other disinformation messages said that the Army took the tanks on the streets and would soon incorporate all men aged 18-35 and send them to fight in Ukraine, according to messages circulated by thousands of TikTok accounts on December 8. Representatives of the Ministry of Defence released a message to deny all these rumors.
Tabloid TV stations exposed such manipulation, but only to promote their conspiracy theories instead.
However ridiculous the TikTok rumors and Georgescu's statements may look (he is circulating most of the conspiracy theories starting with the negation of the Moon landing to the negation of COVID-19), such messages repeated again and again on various social networks have secured him a place in the runoff of the presidential elections.
Ignored/avoided by mainstream media as irrelevant, such rhetoric was not properly prosecuted by authorities. Often contradictory or funny, sometimes of a criminal nature when promoting fascist organisations/leaders, such messages proliferated on TikTok, making Georgescu a major influencer.
But before becoming a TikTok influencer, Calin Georgescu was a member of the academic, business, and administrative elite . And this made him a special kind of TikTok influencer and eventually a presidential candidate.
Georgescu is, after all, the coordinator of the "National Sustainable Development Strategy of Romania 2013-2020-2030 (SNDD)," drafted and endorsed by the Romanian Academy and the Government of Liberal (PNL) prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu in 2008.
