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Calin Georgescu, who is known for his opposition to military aid to Kiev, has already seen his victory in the first round of last year’s election annulled
Elon Musk has sharply criticized the Romanian authorities over the arrest of Calin Georgescu, the winner of the first round of last year’s annulled presidential election. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO and close advisor to President Donald Trump denounced the move as “messed up.”
Georgescu was arrested earlier on Wednesday, shortly before he was planning to file to run for the presidency again, his team wrote on Facebook. The police also conducted dozens of raids against his supporters and people tied to last year’s presidential campaign, according to the local media.
The politician was probed over alleged involvement in a “fascist organization and the promotion of controversial ideologies,” reports said. Prior to his arrest, Georgescu had condemned the raids against his supporters and stated that he was a victim of political persecution by forces seeking to “do anything” to bar him from participating in the presidential election again.
“They just arrested the person who won the most votes in the Romanian presidential election,” Musk wrote in a post on X, commenting on the detention.
Georgescu was released later in the day but faces certain restrictions under a court order, according to the media. He was barred from making any statements on social media or appearing on TV. The charges against him include “anti-constitutional acts” and misreporting his finances, local media reported.
He garnered 23% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in November in a surprise victory. The Constitutional Court then annulled the results shortly before the second round of voting, citing “irregularities” in the politician’s campaign amid unproven claims of Russian interference in the electoral process.
The cancellation drew criticism from the US. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Vice President J.D. Vance suggested that some “old entrenched interests” in Romania were using “ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation” to secure their own interests and prevent a politician with “an alternative viewpoint” from coming to power.
During his election campaign, Georgescu emphasized Romania’s geopolitical non-alignment and sovereignty. He also said that the nation would honor its commitments to NATO and the EU only to the “extent that they will respect theirs” toward Bucharest. He also promised to halt Romania’s military aid to Kiev.
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