Romanians return to the polls amid political turmoil

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00:00Polling stations have opened in Romania this Sunday morning for crucial legislative elections,

00:05exactly a week after the first round of the presidential vote. The far right is hoping

00:11for a win after the right-wing independent candidate Kalin Djorgescu's surprise victory.

00:17For more on this, I'm joined in the studio now by Andrew Hillier. Andrew,

00:21these parliamentary elections come amidst political turmoil. Tell us more about that.

00:25Yeah, that's right. These parliamentary elections could indeed confirm whether or not Romania

00:32really is tilting to the far right or whether last week's first round presidential vote

00:38was merely a fluke. Polls have put the far-right alliance for the unity of Romanians on top,

00:45ahead of the centre-left Social Democratic Party. There are two other far-right parties which may

00:52cross the 5% threshold needed to enter parliament. That's SOS Romania and the

00:59Party of Young People. So there is the possibility that a far-right coalition government could take

01:06shape, so really reshaping Romania's political landscape. And that's problematic for Romania's

01:13two main political parties, the parties that have dominated politics in Romania since the fall of

01:19communism. That's the Social Democratic Party, the centre-left party I just mentioned there,

01:23and the National Liberal Party, the centre-right party. They've been uneasy bedfellows in a

01:32coalition government since 2021 in Romania. Of course, in a two-party system, it's common for

01:38power to shift back and forth between the two main parties as voters reject the incumbent in favour

01:45of the opposition. But in this case, given that the two main parties were members of the same

01:52government, some analysts are saying that that may be one of the reasons that has led to their apparent

02:00demise in these elections, because voters have had to lean on other more anti-establishment

02:08parties this time round. Now, a lot of people watching this election from across Europe,

02:13given the stakes, and the Constitutional Court tomorrow expected to deliver a crucial ruling,

02:19that's on Monday tomorrow. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, Alex, a momentous decision that

02:24we're waiting for on Monday from Romania's Constitutional Court. Now, the Court will

02:31decide whether or not to hold a rerun of the presidential election after the first round was

02:36held last Sunday. The second round runoff is supposed to be held next Sunday on December 8th,

02:43and if it does go ahead, it would be between Kalin Drogescu, that far-right populist figure

02:51whose victory in the first round really took everyone by surprise, rocketing to first place,

02:55despite polling only around five, between five and ten percent in the run-up to that vote.

03:03Himself, as I said, a NATO sceptic in a country which hosts one of Europe's largest NATO bases.

03:09Now, if the vote goes ahead, he'll take part in the runoff against Eleanor Lascone, a reformist

03:15candidate, a centrist, and this ruling is actually based on a complaint put forward by a candidate

03:24who dropped out, but the complaint says that votes for a candidate who dropped out before

03:31the first round vote were illegally transferred to Eleanor Lascone. Now, the Court has already

03:36ordered a recount of the votes, so if it goes ahead and annuls the first round of the presidential

03:42election, that could pour fuel on the political fire in Romania. There's already, you know, a lot

03:48of speculation about foreign meddling from Russia. Far-right politicians have presented this as an

03:55attempt by the old guard to shut them out of power. There are allegations that TikTok favoured

04:01Calin Drogescu's campaign. These are all allegations denied by TikTok and Russia, but it does make for a

04:07very volatile electoral situation in Romania. Andrew, thank you very much for that. Plenty to

04:12keep an eye on there in the Romania election, both the presidential and the parliamentary ongoing

04:18today and next Sunday, potentially.

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