Romanian far-right candidate for presidency Georgescu taken for questioning

Far-right populist Călin Georgescu has been detained by police as part of an inquiry by prosecutors into election campaign fraud, after he came from nowhere to win the first round of last year’s presidential election.

Georgescu was stopped in traffic in the capital, Bucharest, on Wednesday.

His supporters said he was on his way to submit his candidacy for new elections in May, after last December’s second-round run-off was annulled by the constitutional court.

Two right-wing populist parties said they were mobilising their supporters to head for the prosecutor’s office, where Georgescu was taken for questioning.

Romanian reports said police were erecting barriers around the building and that dozens of demonstrators had gathered to protest.

Prosecutors have made a series of allegations against Georgescu, according to Romanian media, including acts against the constitutional order and involvement in an extremist organisation.

Populist opposition parties had earlier filed a no-confidence motion against Romania’s democratically elected pro-European government.

Romania’s outgoing president, Klaus Iohannis, resigned earlier this month ahead of an impeachment vote prompted by the cancelled December election. He had decided to stay in office until a successor was elected in May.

Before the second round of the election was annulled in December, Iohannis declassified intelligence documents that suggested that hundreds of TikTok accounts had been activated backing Georgescu.

Romanian foreign intelligence said Russia had been behind that move, as well as thousands of cyber-attacks and other sabotage.

Opposition politicians had at the time accused Iohannis of an undemocratic move, and Georgescu’s communications team repeated the claim against prosecutors.

“Where is democracy now?” they posted on X on Wednesday, tagging President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and US Vice-President JD Vance.

Earlier this month, Vance had accused Romania of annulling the elections based on “flimsy suspicions” of Romanian intelligence and pressure from its neighbours.

Romania is a vital part of Nato’s eastern flank as well as being a member of the European Union.

Meanwhile, Romanian police said they had carried out raids in several counties around the country, targeting 27 individuals as part of a criminal case relating to the creation of an organisation “with a fascist, racist or xenophobic nature”.

Investigations were also being conducted into false statements regarding the sources of election campaign funding, police said.

The statement made no mention of Georgescu himself and it was not clear if the raids were linked.

Georgescu has been accused of being pro-Russian and he has praised Romania’s fascist and nationalist leaders from the last century as heroes.

He denied he was “Moscow’s man”, in a BBC interview last year, but referred to Vladimir Putin as a “patriot and a leader” while pointing out “I am not a fan”.

Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu accused Elon Musk of a “form of interference” in Romania’s elections, after the billionaire posted several messages of support for Georgescu.