FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Authorities have cleared a dozen candidates for the May elections and rejected another dozen…
Romania is making a second attempt to elect a new president after the country's top court annulled last year's election.
Concerns had been raised ahead of the crucial December vote that the leading candidate, ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, had benefited from undisclosed campaign financing and online promotion that may have been part of a Russian influence operation.
This triggered a repeat of the elections – in a country of 19 million people that is a member of the EU and NATO and borders Ukraine – which are being closely watched in Brussels and Washington.
A victory for a far-right candidate in May could mean more trouble for Brussels and could put Romania in closer alignment with US President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement.
Georgescu is one of the candidates who has been banned from running by Romanian authorities. In his case, the decision came after he failed to respect the rules during the previous elections.
Other candidates were rejected for failing to meet the required threshold of 200,000 signatures in support of their candidacies, or for other technical reasons. Romania's electoral authorities also barred far-right member of the European Parliament, Diana Șoșoacă, from running, citing a similar Constitutional Court ruling last year, due to the threat she would pose to the country's position in the EU and NATO.
The big question now is whether any of the candidates in the race will manage to attract Georgescu's voters.
So who are the candidates in the race?
Nicusor Dan, mayor
Nicușor Dan is an independent candidate who has been mayor of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. A mathematician, he moved into activism and politics in the late 1990s after returning from Paris, where he had completed his doctoral studies. His activism, he said, aimed to oppose the “real estate mafia” in an effort to preserve green spaces and heritage sites in Bucharest.
In 2015 he founded the Union Save Bucharest, a political party that later became the Union Save Romania (USR), shifting its focus from the local to the national arena.
Dan resigned from the party in 2017 after a dispute over whether the Romanian constitution should reject gay marriage. Dan did not want the party to take a position, but USR members voted to oppose allowing the constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
Crin Antonesku, kandidati i themelimit
Crin Antonescu kandidon si kandidat i përbashkët i partive kryesore të Rumanisë: Social Demokratët (PSD), Liberalët Kombëtarë (PNL) dhe partia e pakicës hungareze (UDMR). Një ish-udhëheqës i PNL-së, Antonesku është më i njohur për qëndrimin e tij si president i përkohshëm një duzinë vjet më parë pasi parlamenti rumun pezulloi nga detyra presidentin e atëhershëm Traian Băsescu. Ai nuk ka mbajtur asnjë post politik gjatë dekadës së fundit.
Victor Ponta, ish-kryeministri
Victor Ponta shërbeu si kryeministër për socialdemokratët e Rumanisë nga viti 2012 deri në vitin 2015, kur dha dorëheqjen mes protestave që shpërthyen pas një zjarri në një klub nate që vrau 64 njerëz. Ai më vonë themeloi partinë e tij, por nuk arriti të fitonte shumë popullaritet. Prokurorët hetuan Ponta-n mbi disa akuza për korrupsion, por e liruan atë në vitin 2018. Ai ka kërkuar të rishpikë veten politikisht dhe tani po kandidon si i pavarur, duke shpresuar të tërheqë votuesit e Georgescu.
Elena Lasconi, ish-gazetare
Elena Lasconi është një politikane opozitare që kandidon për presidente si kandidate e partisë Save Romania Union, të cilën ajo e drejton. Lasconi u rendit i dyti në raundin e parë të anuluar të garës presidenciale të Rumanisë dhe do të përballej me Georgescu në balotazhin e dhjetorit përpara se autoritetet të ndërhynin. Ajo hyri në politikë në vitin 2020, duke kandiduar me sukses për kryetare bashkie në Câmpulung Muscel, një qytet i vogël afër Bukureshtit, si kandidate e BRSS. 52-vjeçarja ka një karrierë prej dekadash në gazetari.
George Simion, figurë e ekstremit të djathtë
George Simion është kreu i partisë së dytë më të madhe të Rumanisë në parlament, Aleanca për Bashkimin e Rumunëve (AUR) dhe njeriu i së djathtës së djathtë në garë. Ai siguroi vendin pas tërheqjes së një tjetër kandidateje të së djathtës, Anamaria Gavrila, me të cilën kishte rënë dakord paraprakisht që njëri do të tërhiqej nëse të dyja miratohen si kandidatë nga autoritetet zgjedhore. 38-vjeçari ka bërë fushatë për bashkimin e Moldavisë dhe Rumanisë dhe në disa raste i është ndaluar hyrja në Moldavi. Atij gjithashtu iu ndalua të hynte në Ukrainë për shkak të "aktiviteteve të tij sistematike anti-ukrainase", sipas Shërbimit të Sigurimit të Ukrainës.
Lavinia Șandru, aktorja
Lavinia Șandru ishte një anëtare e dhomës së ulët të parlamentit të Rumanisë midis 2004 dhe 2008. Një gazetare dhe aktore, ajo ka qenë pjesë e disa partive duke përfshirë ish-Partinë Demokratike. Ajo është tani një anëtare e Partisë Social Liberale Humaniste, e themeluar dekada më parë nga Dan Voiculescu, një manjat mediatik rumun që kaloi shtatë vjet burg për korrupsion. Șandru është e njohur për martesën e saj të mëparshme të profilit të lartë me Darius Vâlcov, një ish-ministër social demokrat i financave , i cili po vuan një dënim me 6 vjet burg për pastrim parash. Șandru dhe Vâlcov u divorcuan në vitin 2016.
Cristian Terheş, ish-prift
Cristian Terheş is a member of the European Parliament from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. He is vice-chair of the parliamentary committee on budgetary control. A former priest, Terheş described transgender women as "perverted men" in a speech to Parliament in 2023. He also challenged a spring 2020 lockdown by the Romanian government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the European Court of Human Rights, but the court dismissed the case. He has opposed compulsory vaccination, as people were not allowed to be in public spaces unless they were immunized against Covid-19. He called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resign over her dealings with pharmaceutical company Pfizer in purchasing the drugs.
Silviu Predoiu, former spy
Silviu Predoiu is a Romanian general and long-time intelligence officer who served several times as interim director of Romania’s foreign intelligence service. His leadership is supported by the National League for Action, a small center-right party. Predoiu worked for Romania’s feared secret police, the Securitate, during the pre-1989 communist era, but did not violate anyone’s fundamental rights, according to the archives of Romania’s National Council for Security Studies.
John Ion Banu, gun enthusiast
John Ion Banu is a mechanical engineer who immigrated to the United States in 1985, where he founded the Romanian-American League. In a 2017 interview, he said he voted for Donald Trump because of his promise to control America's borders. He also said he would introduce the death penalty in Romania for corruption and murder and supported giving Romanians the right to bear arms. The Romanian Electoral Bureau certified his candidacy, but notified prosecutors that it suspected that some of the signatures Banu submitted in support of his candidacy were forged.
Daniel Funeriu, chemist
Daniel Funeriu is a former center-right education minister and a former member of the European Parliament. He has worked in France, the US, Japan and Germany.
Sebastian Popescu, veterinarian-journalist
Sebastian Popescu is a veterinarian who founded two news websites and created the New Romania Party. Popescu is running on the promise of reforming Romania’s healthcare system, improving the country’s education system and promoting sustainable economic development. Again, the Romanian Electoral Bureau certified his candidacy, but notified prosecutors that some of the signatures Popescu submitted in support of his candidacy may have been forged. /Adapted from Pamphlet /
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