She has been accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda and anti-Semitic views. Known for opposing anti-Covid measures during the pandemic, she was expelled from the chamber of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in July 2024 after loudly interrupting debates. Her small party, SOS Romania, won 24 seats after securing some 7% of votes in December legislative elections.
The electoral office did, meanwhile, validate the candidacy of Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party leader George Simion, the most prominent figure on the far right following Georgescu’s exclusion. According to AUR, banning Sosoaca’s candidacy “represents a further blow to Romanian democracy and a serious violation of fundamental rights and freedoms.”
The eastern European state has been plunged into chaos since Georgescu’s surprise emergence in November on the back of a huge TikTok social media campaign which was marred by suspicions of Russian interference. In a highly rare outcome, the November election was immediately cancelled while Georgescu was definitively excluded this week from the election, whose first round is scheduled for May 4.
We should have barred our far right for the same reason.
Did I miss it or did the article really not give a reason for her being barred from the election?
The CCR argued that her public discourse, including opposition to Romania’s European Union and NATO memberships, made her unfit to uphold the constitutional obligations of the presidency.
She had been excluded from last years election for the same reason. So this isn’t new.
I didn’t see anything about a violation of election law. All it said was she was known for pro-Kremlin, and anti-Semitic positions. I hope there’s more to this story or Romania is going to damage the credibility of their elections.
This may have been strictly procedure, since she was already banned once, from running in the first election run. But yes, when she was banned initially, the reasons were extremely vague ( russian interference and whatnot ) and haven’t gotten any better.
