Thousands of protesters had rallied in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest on Thursday evening in support of democracy ahead of a Sunday presidential election runoff that might just see a far-right critic of the EU trump a pro-European centrist candidate.
The upcoming December 8 elections is the last of three consecutive ballots for both a new parliament and president in Romania, a member of the European Union and of NATO, and puts the two candidates; the far-right, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu against centrist leader Elena Lasconi.
Georgescu coasting to victory would upend Romania’s pro-Western politics, forcing it closer to a belt of states in central and eastern Europe and with powerful far-right, Russia-friendly politicians (Hungary, Slovakia and Austria).
At the Thursday night rally in Bucharest, Romanian musicians, film directors, actors and civic activists threw their weight solidly behind Lasconi, and appealed to voters to not leave the country isolated in the EU and NATO.
News reporters estimated that about 3,000 people chanted “Europe!” and “No Fascism” in freezing temperatures, toting banners that read “Democracy is in danger” and “Our children will be free”.
An opinion poll by AtlasIntel, conducted Dec. 4-5 and quoted by news website hotnews.ro, revealed that Lasconi is narrowly ahead of Georgescu by 48.6% to 46.4%. The poll results had been published one day after the documents were declassified.
In the poll, about 3.1% of those polled said they would spoil their ballot and 1.9% were undecided.
