Romanian Police Nab Election Front-Runner Georgescu after 'Russian Interference' Claims

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The detention and 'questioning' by police and the prosecutor's office is reportedly in relation to last November's canceled vote that he won, after unsubstantiated and vague claims of 'Russian interference' were claimed.

Government-subsidized/controlled Western media has commonly sought to portray him as a 'far-right, pro-Russian' candidate.

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"Călin Georgescu was going to file his new candidacy for the Presidency.

About 30 minutes ago, the system stopped him in traffic and he was pulled over for questioning at the Prosecutor General’s Office!

Where is democracy, where are the partners who must defend democracy?," a post on Georgescu’s Facebook account indicated.

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Back in December Romania's Constitutional Court had ruled "to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania… to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process" - as the controversial and completely unprecedented ruling stated.

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The 'problem' was, 62-year old Georgescu, the widely dubbed 'far-right' contender, came out on top in a first round of voting in a 'shock' outcome which left political opponents scrambling and claiming Russian intelligence was behind the massive and sudden rise in his popularity.

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After winning the first round on November 24th, he was scheduled to face reformist Elena Lasconi of the liberal Save Romania Union (USR) in the second round.

Crucially, Georgescu's huge underdog victory also happened with zero campaign spending, according to his declaration.

This was another 'problem' and conundrum for authorities and his political enemies.

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But the supposed 'smoking gun' was related to mere social media posts on platforms like TikTok.

The ruling came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence that alleged Russia ran a far-reaching campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram.

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Footage of his arrest on a Romanian street:

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Currently, Romanian news outlets are reporting, police are searching the homes and offices of Georgescu's close associates, reportedly in connection with the funding of his election campaign last year.

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According to the latest from Politico: 

Prosecutors suspect 27 people of acting against Romania’s constitutional order, public incitement, initiation of a fascist organization and false statements regarding the sources of financing an election campaign, but they didn’t name Georgescu or his aides in their statement.

However, shortly after news of the raids broke Wednesday morning, Georgescu claimed that the searches were aimed to block his new presidential candidacy.

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A machine translation from the Romanian of Georgescu's post reads in part as follows:

"The communist-Bolshevik system continues its odious abuses!

Today, at 6 am, they descended again on families in dozens of locations, waking children from their sleep."

"They are looking to invent evidence to justify the theft of the elections and to do anything to block my new candidacy for the presidency," the post emphasized. "They have been searching for three months without success."

The arrest has happened ahead of the new election date of May 4th - which had been set by authorities for the new rerun vote.

It's as yet unclear if Georgescu will be able to participate in the 'do-over' election - and the legal intervention does appear an effort to damage and block his campaign from moving forward.

If no single candidate wins over 50% of the ballet, a runoff would be scheduled for May 18.

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In early January, as people took to the streets in support of Georgescu, the blocked frontrunner wrote in a social media post: "You petty politicians, with your ungrateful and immature games, you won't even know what hit you in this global storm."

He compared Romanian leaders and judges with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is on trial on corruption charges. "You are so small that you aren't even able to understand anything. Nothing you do will make a difference anymore. The inevitable, is inevitable."