Editorial: El País

• The ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu, has come first in the first round of the presidential election in Romania with 22.9% of votes, thanks to an anti-system campaign on TikTok.
• The result has been a blow to traditional parties and to social democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was eliminated in the first round.
• The president in Romania has powers in the appointment of judges, national security and foreign policy, which has caused international alarm.
• Romania is a strategic country in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and it has NATO military bases and anti-missile defense facilities.
• Georgescu is an anti-American politician and hostile to liberal democracy, who compares the EU with the USSR and supports fascist leaders.

Conclusion: If Georgescu wins the presidency, it could favor Putin by creating a new division in NATO and the EU, and cutting aid to Ukraine.

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