Romania’s pro-Europeans fear Putin is pushing them back to dictatorship 

According to the latest polling from Atlas Intel, Georgescu is on 47 percent, a lead of four points over Lasconi on 43 percent support. Georgescu’s dramatic transformation has shocked Romania’s Western allies, with analysts warning that Russian bots may have amplified his campaign on social media in a highly targeted and effective influence operation. 

Speaking on election monitoring at a summit in Malta, Blinken delivered the West’s clearest statement yet that Putin’s regime was to blame. “Romanian authorities are uncovering a Russian effort — large in scale and well-funded — to influence the recent presidential election,” he said.

For many in a country that spent decades in Moscow’s oppressive orbit, the threat of Russian interference remains alarming. 

“We are in grave danger of becoming like Belarus, where Russia will completely rule our country,” said Andrei Buterez, a 29 year-old software engineer, as he watched the rally in Bucharest. People who support Georgescu “have been fooled by the social media campaign” that he pushed, with help from outsiders, he added. 

Yet millions of voters — including those living in other countries and voting from afar — backed the outsider. His candidacy has split friends and left family members on opposing sides. “It’s absolutely shocking,” Buterez said. “It’s an ice-cold shower that we have been experiencing.” 

Ioana Marussi, 29, also a software engineer, said Georgescu “speaks to those that are unhappy with the political situation,” a large potential audience in Romania. His answer is to take the country back to a time when it was a closed and far-right society, before World War II, she said. 

Georgescu has criticized ongoing support for Ukraine and expressed skepticism about NATO operations on Romanian soil. He has vowed to dismantle Romania’s political party system, which led some to say he wants to establish a dictatorship. 

His campaign has rekindled memories of Romania’s bloody past under Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, and the violent 1989 revolution that overthrew him. “I was 18 at the time and I could hear people shooting,” said Poderescu, quoted earlier. “I have that same fear today. We can’t go back to that time.”