Hidden Causes of the Political Earthquake in Romania

Sergiu CEBAN

The scandalous cancellation of the first round of the presidential election’s results in Romania is a forced reaction of the globalist elites, whose masters cannot allow the rise of nationally oriented forces

Just two days before the decisive round of the presidential election, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round. The court’s decision was motivated by serious irregularities that could have affected the election final. The verdict was passed even though the Romanian diaspora had already started voting in foreign polling stations, and a little earlier, on 2 December, the CC itself had approved the results of the first round. President Klaus Iohannis explained the same evening that the act of cancellation took place after analyzing documents presented at a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council. They allegedly indicated the interference of a foreign state in the electoral process in favor of the candidate Georgescu. Given the current circumstances, after recognizing the results of the parliamentary elections, the President is going to hold consultations with the parties in order to form a new government, which will set the date for the repeat elections. At the same time, despite the expiry of his mandate on 21 December, Iohannis intends to remain in office until a replacement is elected. It should be recalled that a fortnight ago, the right-wing populist candidate Calin Georgescu sensationally became the leader of the presidential race with 22.95% of the votes. His closest opponent, the chairwoman of the liberal Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, received 19.17%, while the formal favorite, the incumbent prime minister of the country from the Social Democratic Party, Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, was in third place with 19.15%. The unexpected and unpredicted result of the first round shocked the Romanian political class, causing a major headache for the outgoing White House administration. The latter, as it seems, found nothing else to do but to persuade Bucharest to take a radical path, adding the “Romanian problem” to Donald Trump’s already difficult foreign policy legacy. In the meantime, there are completely contradictory signals coming from the United States. The Department of State is concerned about Russian involvement in malicious cyber activities intended to affect the integrity of the electoral process in Romania. A spokesman for the department claimed that the data from the report of the Romanian intelligence services should be fully investigated. At the same time, the son of US President-elect Donald Trump Jr. called the Constitutional Court’s decision “another attempt by Soros to rig the results and deny the will of the people”. The leader of the presidential race, Calin Georgescu, assessed what happened as a “formalized coup d'état”. In his opinion, “the country’s democracy is under threat because the rule of law is in an artificial coma and justice is subordinated to political orders and has practically lost its essence”. The other winner of the first round, Elena Lasconi, was also dissatisfied, believing that the court’s conclusion tramples on the democracy of the Romanian state and leads the country to anarchy, while she would have almost certainly won last weekend. We personally doubt the latter. Most likely, the control measurement of the ratings of both candidates a few days before the second round revealed a frightening picture for the mainstream political forces - namely, the convincing victory of Georgescu. According to some reports leaked to the Romanian media, he could have won up to 60% of the votes and even more. Of course, this unpleasant case will not be solved so easily for Romania. The country is plunging into political turmoil, which is clearly stirred up from outside. It is far from certain that the ruling groups will be able to legitimately continue to hold on to power and not turn after the next presidential election into the current state of Georgia, gradually losing both investment attractiveness and its strategic positions in NATO, the EU and in the system of the global West. The key question circulating in the expert community is how the Romanian elites agreed to such extreme measures at the risk of plunging the state into a prolonged electoral-political crisis. What exactly were the guarantees of support and incentives provided, given that the US itself is in a state of power transfer. It seems that Washington made a rather tough and firm demand, which could not be ignored either in the key institutions of power or in the Constitutional Court. This was a forced step of the West has to take such drastic measures. The observed trends catalyzed by the re-election of Donald Trump are clear signs of the US global dominance’s fall, which can be felt from Syria and South Korea to France, Romania and Georgia. And this is only the very beginning. No matter who resists, using all available resources of pressure, the systems we are used to will be further eroded and lead to more and more governmental and electoral crises. The events of recent weeks in various regions are a clear signal that the world is entering a long period of transition in which the United States will gradually withdraw and its global dominance will wane. This will inevitably lead to a vacuum of international perspectives. Against this background, the political systems of Western Europe are increasingly fragile, and nationally oriented political forces are rising in Eastern and Central European states. As a result, a domino effect may emerge in the coming years that will affect most of the countries of the European continent, and indeed other regions of the world. If 20 years ago the West was actively marching around the world, organizing one after another color revolution in the post-Soviet space, in 2024 we are witnessing the opposite effect, when the counter-revolutionary anti-globalist flywheel is spinning with such force that transnational structures are forced to hold a conditional third round of presidential elections not somewhere in Kyiv, but directly in one of the EU countries. The globalist system of relations formed over the past few decades with the corporatized elites of nation-states consisted in the fact that the ruling regimes used strategic resources, markets and territories in the interests of large transnational capitals, neglecting the interests of their countries. The result has been a severe split between societies and corporate governments that are part of an extensive globalist network. If someone thinks that we are talking only about the EU member states and genuine democracies, so Moldova will not be affected by this geopolitical hurricane, it is a big fallacy. Romania’s case should become the very “storm warning” for Chisinau. Judging by what is happening, already today, as we are rapidly sinking into the government and energy crisis, the first half of next year promises to be extremely tense and unpredictable. And there are doubts that the parliamentary elections will stick to the original plan of the ruling regime. What is happening around us can be tentatively called a wave of a new national revival, where the main struggle will take place around the dismissal of the corporate power structure and subsequent sovereignty. If one of the main bastions of American transnational domination is destroyed in Romania, the days of PAS and its leaders will be numbered. That is why Maia Sandu got personally involved in the electoral process in neighboring Romania, knowing that Moldova will be next.