Violence erupted in Bucharest on Sunday evening after Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau disbarred Calin Georgescu from standing in May’s re-run presidential election. In a statement, the bureau justified its decision to exclude Georgescu on the grounds his candidature ‘doesn’t meet the conditions of legality’ because he ‘violated the very obligation to defend democracy’.
Supporters of Georgescu, who has been described by the BBC as a ‘far-right, pro-Russia candidate’, gathered outside the Central Electoral Bureau to vent their fury, and they soon clashed with police.
Until six months ago the name Georgescu was unknown outside Romania. Then the 62-year-old stormed to victory in the first round of November’s presidential election, a result that stunned Europe’s political elite.
This alarm grew as opinion polls indicated Georgescu would win the second round.
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