TikTok and Praise for Putin Spur Romania’s Nationalist Insurgent
- Georgescu, 62, ranked at the bottom of surveys weeks ago
- Presidential campaign backed by formidable TikTok following
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Nobody in Romania saw the presidential election upset coming — not the public, not the pundits — and not the first-round winner, an ultranationalist with a formidable TikTok following who has doled out praise for Vladimir Putin.
Calin Georgescu, 62, an agricultural engineer by trade who ranked at the bottom of surveys only weeks ago, gave a brief statement late Sunday in front of a nondescript house in Bucharest, still reeling from the result. “What happened today is a stunning awakening of consciousness,” he told reporters.