The US president should intervene to stop an assault on democracy, Calin Georgescu has said
Calin Georgescu, the winner of the first round of last year’s annulled presidential election in Romania, has asked US President Donald Trump for help against what he has called a political persecution campaign against him.
A NATO-skeptic and nationalist, Georgescu’s surprise victory in the presidential election first round last year triggered accusations of foreign interference, prompting the Romanian Supreme Court to controversially annul the vote. On Wednesday, Georgescu was arrested as he was about to file to run for the presidency again. He was released later the same day.
“I definitely ask President Trump to take care about the situation,” he told an American blogger, Mario Nawfal, in an interview published on X on Thursday.
According to the Romanian authorities, Georgescu faces a total of six charges, including “anti-constitutional acts” and misreporting his finances. He was barred by a court order from leaving the country, appearing on TV, or posting anything on social media.
The politician denounced the criminal case against him as an assault on democracy that runs counter to the will of the Romanian people. Delete
According to Georgescu, the persecution campaign against him had “exposed” the Romanian “deep state” and its “corruption.” The politician claimed that Romania had been thrown back to the 1950s when it was ruled by a Communist regime.
“The deep state is so strong in this particular [kind] of activity,” Georgescu said, referring to his arrest on Wednesday. He also vowed to “fight for our freedom and for our democracy” and called on the US to support him in this fight.
According to Georgescu, the US should support him in order to preserve its own image as a beacon of democracy. If democracy is defeated “in one country” in a “coup d’etat” that would mean a failure for the US as well, the politician stated.
Washington has so far not commented on Georgescu’s appeal.
US officials have previously criticized the actions of Bucharest for annulling the results of the November election. 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.
Elon Musk slammed the politician’s arrest on Wednesday by calling the move “messed up.”
Georgescu is known for his skepticism towards Western influence over the country’s policies and criticizing both NATO and the EU. During his campaign, he also vowed to halt Romania’s military aid to Kiev if elected.
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