By Sergiu Mișcoiu, Babeș-Bolyai University, interviwed on 12/03/2025.

Professor Sergiu Mișcoiu says that he was relieved to receive the CCR’s decision. Călin Georgescu cannot run in the presidential elections in May. The Sovereignist Pole is looking for a candidate for Cotroceni. Three names are currently being circulated. Among them, the one who has been sending pro-Kremlin messages for almost two decades stands out. Russia will adapt depending on the decision that will be made at the AUR level and the discussions with Mr. Georgescu. Russia will not support a candidate who scores very low, political scientist Sergiu Mișcoiu tells RFI.

Sergiu Mișcoiu: I received the CCR decision with relief, but it was to be expected. I looked with joy at the decision made by the BEC. It is an encouraging signal that other institutions, besides the Constitutional Court, have mobilized to fulfill their role, their mission. Beyond the status of the chamber, registration, candidacies, here we will have to discuss a reform of the AEP, the BEC system and, of course, the entire institutional system, so that mechanisms from these that allow for better supervision of the elections and the entire process leading to the election of the President of Romania, but also of the Parliament and local elected officials, can be put into operation from the moment the previous election is practically over. After all, we had a major vacuum in Romania in relation to this supervision of the entire process leading to the election, not the election itself. And it seems that now the institutions have woken up and we have a form of democratic vitality that we are rediscovering and that we should take to the end through a more concerted action to clean up public institutions and orient them towards modernization.

Reporter: Călin Georgescu’s first reaction, after the announcement of the CCR decision, was that he considered his mission accomplished. « I have exposed the demon in all his ugliness ». What did he actually mean?

Sergiu Mișcoiu: It is the part of the messianic, millenarian, savior discourse that he has accustomed us to. Mr. Georgescu positioned himself from the start as an anti-system candidate, showed all the strengths of the system from his point of view and demonstrated to his voters – at least this is his desire to present things to us – that the entire political, institutional, judicial system opposes him, because he has a totally different message from the others for the country and represents the true solution. It is exactly the type of populist discourse, with messianic overtones, that we find in other parts of the world. But in Romania, at least since Corneliu Vadim Tudor, we have not had such a type of discourse, and here we are encountering it after almost 25 years.

Reporter: Later, he returned with a message in three languages ​​in which he said that while America is becoming great again, Europe and Romania, under dictatorship, have become small and corrupt and he assured that things will not stay that way. What do you think is next?

Sergiu Mișcoiu: I think that between the two messages, his attention was drawn to the farewell message. Basically, the first was a message that demobilized the electorate. Now, at the moment, the demobilization of the electorate is not very welcome. Insofar as a presidential election is coming up and today we will have a decision that will be made regarding the candidate supported by the Sovereignist Pole, especially by AUR, but also with the blessing of Mr. Georgescu, and I think that the second aggressive message had two types of objectives. The first is to place himself in the wake of MAGA, in the wake of the Trump administration, trying to get closer to the Washington speech once again to benefit from support from that side and, secondly, to mobilize the troops, to show that Georgescu’s spirit is still present, even if he will no longer be a candidate. And once again we have a messianic image, as if detached from the two bodies of the sovereign, one that is physical and that can no longer move forward. But the spirit of Mr. Georgescu will continue to breathe in all of us, through, of course, the movements that his successor will continue to make as a candidate. I think these were the objectives and, of course, it should be noted that through short and very clear messages, Mr. Georgescu has the ability to give food for thought to his opponents and, perhaps, to set things in motion among his supporters.

Reporter: Russia has spoken through the voices of several officials in recent days about the elections in Romania, in support of Călin Georgescu. Now, Călin Georgescu is out of the game. Are we to believe that Russia is waiting for another name to be pulled from the hat or does it already have someone in mind?

Sergiu Mișcoiu: Russia will adapt depending on the decision that will be made at the AUR level and in the discussions with Mr. Georgescu today. I am convinced that Russia will act opportunistically, it will not support a candidate who scores very low. We saw how it still managed to push a candidate forward, in November 2024, and then it will focus its efforts on supporting, perhaps not so obvious, perhaps a little more discreet, but perhaps precisely for that reason quite effectively, a candidate who has a chance, the candidate of the Sovereign Pole. On the other hand, it must be emphasized how ridiculous it is that a state like Russia – which mimics the organization of elections, practically organized only one more liberal election after 1991, when the USSR collapsed, and otherwise the elections were organized in a completely undemocratic manner – now has to give lessons regarding the elimination of presidential candidates in European Union states, which, whatever they may be, are in a democratic, functional state, which has nothing to do with the one in Russia.

Reporter: George Simion goes to Călin Georgescu with three presidential options. He himself, although he has repeatedly said that he does not want to enter the race for Cotroceni, Dan Dungaciu and Dan Puric. The Adevărul newspaper reported today that the controversial political consultant Anton Pisaroglu has also announced his candidacy for the Presidency of Romania, saying that his main objective is the resumption of free elections under international supervision. Well, Anton Pisaroglu helped Călin Georgescu…

Sergiu Mișcoiu: If Pisaroglu enters this race, we will have a different turn of the campaign. Then Mr. Georgescu will probably manage to convince Mr. Simion that there is no official AUR candidate and to support Mr. Pisaroglu. But this move would be one that, from the perspective of Mr. Pisaroglu’s low notoriety, from the perspective of his affiliation, would harm the score of the sovereignist pole. I think that the two options currently being considered are rather George Simion, who was actually preparing this move for a long time, but Mr. Georgescu’s attitude remains unknown, because Mr. Georgescu seems not to have been so convinced of plan B, which should have gone in parallel with plan A. With Mr. Simion, subsequently taking the flag from Mr. Georgescu’s hand and moving forward in these elections, he would not be so thrilled because he would lose control over the electoral flow and over the decision to run per se. And the second option, which I think is worth considering, is Dan Puric, who has been consistent for almost two decades, at least 15 years, in this position of critic of liberal democracy, having as a defect, let’s say, the still too great proximity he has to the Kremlin’s discourse, which he has not hesitated to praise on several occasions, which not even Mr. Georgescu has done in the same transparent manner. I think that the two options have benefits and drawbacks. As we have seen, Mr. Simion is not able to bring all the votes that Mr. Georgescu can bring, but he is still in a fairly favorable position, having already significant electoral capital. Mr. Puric has this ability to rise rapidly, because he already has significant public notoriety and a discourse that is more compatible with that of Mr. Georgescu than with that of Mr. Simion. So he would be a better fit as Mr. Georgescu’s legal successor. But the unknown will be how mobilized those in gold will be and how mobilized this electorate would be less eager to support a project that can be much more clearly identified with Moscow’s stamp on it.

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Sergiu Mișcoiu is a professor and researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania, specialist of nation-building processes, political transitions and transformations in CEE and francophone Africa. He is also Director of the Centre for International Cooperation and of the Centre for African Studies.

This interview was conducted by the RFI’s Romanian section and the content was translated and provided by the interwee himself.

Link to the original interview in Romanian : Polul Suvernist caută candidat pentru Cotroceni. Rusia se va adapta, nu va susține un candidat care să facă un scor mic (Analist)