Calin Georgescu (Image: Getty)
Declassified documents show the sensational rise of hard-right candidate Calin Georgescu in the first round of ‘s was “not a natural outcome”, authorities in the country claim.
Romania’s domestic intelligence service (SRI) claims there are signs that efforts to interfere in the vote were “co-ordinated by a state-sponsored actor”.
Calin Georgescu, a NATO-sceptic who has been accused by critics of being an “open admirer of “, had been polling at 5 percent before his shock win in the first round of voting in the presidential elections, which took place two weeks ago.
He insists he is not pro-, has put his surge down to “an extraordinary awakening” among the Romanian public, and campaigned mainly on video-sharing platform .
Georgescu won 23 percent of the vote, with Elena Lasconi of the opposition Save Romania Union coming second with 19 percent. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the governing Social Democrats finished third.
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Georgescu insists he has spent no money on his campaign. (Image: Getty)
But the nature of his victory, which was warmly welcomed on Russian state media, has brought accusations of foul play from opponents in Bucharest.
Romanian intelligence now claims his unexpected boom in popularity was due to a “highly organised” and “guerrilla” social media campaign, sharing identical messaging and using influencers. They also allege that the effort was conducted from “external locations” to sidestep controls, reports.
A separate intelligence assessment claims that Romania, a member of both the EU and NATO, has been identified as an “enemy state” by the Kremlin, as well as a priority target for what it describes as “aggressive hybrid actions”.
The claims, which are sending shockwaves through the country, came from declassified reports into election interference published on Wednesday evening by the outgoing president, Klaus Iohannis, at the request of institutions that authored them.
The documents also allege Georgescu was promoted on , without being marked as election campaigning, which would be a violation of the platform’s own rules as well as the country’s electoral law, with content by candidates’ campaigns subject to closer controls.
The documents identify one account, which it is claimed made payments of $381,000 (£299,819) in just one month from October 24 to users of the platform who were promoting the candidate.
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Georgescu claims the publication of the documents is intended to block his candidacy. (Image: Getty)
Separately, the intelligence agencies report that there were around 85,000 attempted hacks in an attempt to access electoral data and change content, including on election day, as per News.
Advanced methods to remain anonymous were used, on a scale “typical of state-sponsored actors”, the report claimed.
has denied any interference in Romania’s electoral process, while Georgescu has insisted he spent “zero” promoting his rise, denied even campaigning at all.
In a TV interview on Wednesday, Georgescu said: “I think it’s the first time in the history of the world when a state is organising an action against a candidate to stop him from running.” He also denied knowing any of the alleged influencers or funders referred to by authorities.
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