Calin Georgescu has been branded a ‘fascist charlatan’ who won two million votes ‘under dubious conditions’.
In a stinging attack on Georgescu whose surprise win of the first round of presidential elections led to the cancellation of the whole vote after reports of foreign meddling, presidential candidate Crin Antonescu lashed out at Georgescu, the pro-Russian who is frontrunner for the May ballot.
“Several candidates obtained more than two million votes in the last 35 years, but none of them had the “fascist” claim that they represent the Romania people, he said.
Former President Traian Basescu also called Georgescu “a charlatan” on Tuesday.
”The charlatan. Georgescu has apparently managed the most incredible performance. He’s supported by Romanians, Russians and Americans at the same time. What talent!”he wrote on Facebook.
The comments came after a report in a US publication on Monday revealed massive foreign interference in the vote artificially boosted Georgescu’s campaign.
Osavul, an AI-powered information threat detection tool, identified 85% of Georgescu’s online campaign content originated from fake profiles, bots, and AI-generated videos, manipulating social media algorithms to amplify pro-Georgescu narratives.
Between 2022 and 2023, a network of 20,321 fake accounts emerged to engage in online discourse in favor of Georgescu.
These accounts flooded social media platforms with over 2.1 million pro-Georgescu comments starting on November 23, 2024, just a day before the first round of voting.
Antonescu warned about the dangers Romania would be exposed t if Georgescu was elected president.
“Well, if this man won, let’s say, the presidential elections, he would move to abolish everything, to dissolve Parliament, to ban parties, to close newspapers, to close televisions, because, isn’t it true, the people are behind him? So, this is fascism, it is something that cannot be tolerated,” he told Antena 3.
Crin Antonescu was responding to Calin Georgescu’s statements that he refuses to participate in debates “with false counter-candidates” ahead of the May elections.
In the first round of elections last year, pro-Georgescu content flooded timelines across platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, amassing millions of views overnight, Artvoice, the US publication which covers politics,news, art news and opinion reported.
Romanian intelligence analysis which led to the annulment of the elections was supported by a coalition of international partners, including NATO, the UK, Canada, Ukraine, Estonia, and the European Commission, which deployed Osavul, an AI-powered information threat detection tool, to analyze Georgesecu’s online campaign.
The radical Georgescu emerged frontrunner winning 22.9% of the vote and defeating well known politicians Elena Lasconi and Marcel Ciolacu, who trailed with 19.17% and 19.15% respectively.
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