All of Europe — not to mention quite a few observers in the U.S. — seemed to be gasping in unison Monday morning with the final results of the election for president of Romania.
In results that were completely unexpected, Călin Georgescu, 62 and a political unknown without a party behind him, placed first in the initial balloting with 22.94% of the vote. He was followed by Elena Lasconi, the former TV newscaster and "reformist" mayor of the town of Câmpulung who is the leader of the Save Romania Union party, or USR, with 19.18%.
"Who is Călin Georgescu?" was the immediate question in and outside Romania. Prior to the voting, opinion was unanimous that the runoff would include Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, and George Simion, who is the leader of the nationalist and populist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, and is known as "the Romanian Donald Trump."
But Ciolacu got 19.15% — just a whisker behind Lasconi — and Simion placed fourth with 13.86%.
"[P]ro Russia, far right politician" is how Georgescu was described on Page 1 of the Financial Times, although on Page 2, the FT cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Moscow was unfamiliar with Georgescu and wouldn't predict who would win the Dec. 8 runoff between Georgescu and Lasconi.
For his part, Georgescu praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of world's "true leaders" in 2020. He has been highly critical of Romania's NATO membership and the presence of U.S. missiles in Romania — something also strongly denounced by Putin.
In addition, with Romania giving an estimated $1 billion of military equipment to Ukraine over the past two years, Georgescu left little doubt he supported Romanian neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war.
But there is much about Georgescu that remains a mystery and fuels suspicion.
Both polls and intelligence agencies completely missed his rise, and the outsider candidate campaigned under the radar through TikTok — in which he was shown riding horseback and demonstrating his skill in karate — and with strong backing from Orthodox parish priests.
"But that alone can't explain it," Alison Mutler, former Associated Press correspondent in Romania for 25 years and now director of the news site Universul.net, told Newsmax. "He claims to be anti-system, but he's pretty much from the system, having worked for the foreign and environmental ministries."
Mutler added, "I also wouldn't believe Putin's spokesman. The Russians know what is happening here and who their allies are.
"Of course, that is the line they want the Romanian public to believe, as being close to Russia doesn't win you elections in Romania. You have to act stealthily, and Georgescu is the ultimate stealth candidate."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.