Suspicions are growing about Calin Georgescu regarding possible foreign influence in his election campaign. The far-right exponent who unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential elections in Romania has always denied any external help, but now a secret service document casts new shadows on his actions.
The declassified documents
Authorities in Romania have revealed details of what appears to be a massive attempt to interfere in the presidential election, using the social media platform TikTok and through a series of cyberattacks. The nation’s domestic intelligence service says there are signs the effort was “coordinated by a state-sponsored actor,” reminiscent of Kremlin-run influence operations in Ukraine and Moldova.
Calin Georgescu was almost unknown in Romania until he won the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago. Now Romanian intelligence says his sudden and surprising rise in popularity was due to a “highly organised” and “guerrilla” campaign on social media.
The politically explosive information, arriving just days before the second round of the consultation, scheduled for Sunday, comes from declassified documents published by the outgoing president, the liberal Klaus Iohannis. The documents reveal how paid content supporting Georgescu was promoted on TikTok, without being marked as an election campaign, in violation of the platform’s rules and Romanian electoral law.
Suspicious payments and hacker attacks
Georgescu has always claimed to have spent “zero” on election promotion. But the intelligence documents identify a TikTok account that allegedly made $381,000 in payments in a single month from October 24, to users promoting Georgescu. The pro-Russian candidate claims that the publication of the documents – drawn up for a Security Council meeting after the first round of the presidential elections – is a coordinated attempt to block his candidacy.
Separately, intelligence agencies reported about 85,000 hacking attempts aimed at accessing election data and changing its contents, including on election day. The report states that cybercriminals used advanced methods to remain anonymous, working in a manner and on a scale “typical of state-sponsored actors”. An investigation is now underway to find out who is responsible and to verify any impact on the elections.
Russia has denied any interference in Romania’s electoral process. Far-right favorite Georgescu is expected to face reformist right-wing candidate Elena Lasconi next Sunday. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who came third in the presidential race, has now announced that he will “fully support” the latter.
Washington’s concerns
The US State Department said it was concerned about cyberattacks targeting the Romanian electoral process and called for a full investigation to ensure its integrity, spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement on Wednesday. “Romania’s hard-won progress to anchor itself in the transatlantic community cannot be undone by foreign actors seeking to distance Romania’s foreign policy from its Western alliances,” he said.
