Donations
Veridica.md
From Diana Șoșoacă's “pen revolution” to George Simion's “giro giro girofaru” posts and #CălinGeorgescu, sovereigntists have taken Romania’s TikTok by storm, a space where they campaigned even on election day. Altogether, sovereigntist candidates grabbed nearly 40% of total votes.
Diana Șoșoacă, pro-Russian jokes and eulogies for the “Captain” of the Romanian Iron Guard, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Cast out of the presidential race shortly before the election, Diana Șoșoacă went live on election day, filming herself while she cast a null vote. Most news channels picked up on the story, reporting on her infringement. Her gesture was predictable, premeditated and promoted in her Facebook and TikTok live sections days before the election. Whether we’re talking about videos where she filmed herself while visiting the Christmas Market in Craiova, or other group live streams uploaded by her supporters on TikTok, each video urged voters to do the same thing: “use the pen”. Voters were thus encouraged to draw a square on the ballot, write the names of Diana Șoșoacă and her SOS Romania Party, and X-mark the squares allotted to the other candidates.
By means of this ruse, Diana Şoșoacă told people they were taking part in the so-called “paper revolution”, and that two million such ballots were needed for the election to be declared invalid. The truth, however, is that all ballots on which a clear voting option, bearing the “VOTED” stamp is not expressed are annulled and then included in a category that counts even ballots that have not been used in a given polling station, or those on which the stamp was applied on multiple candidates. The Romanian law does not stipulate a threshold based on which a vote can be invalidated.
Aside from urging supporters to nullify their votes or not to watch TV, which spreads lies, Diana Șoșoacă repeatedly stated she does not support either Simion or Georgescu, adding about the latter “Don't trust Călin Georgescu, he had me fooled too at first”. Nevertheless, during her live broadcasts on election day, Diana Șoșoacă did not hesitate to insert a pro-Russian joke into the conversation, such as “And if Putin had run, would they have had the guts to take him out of the race?” Alternatively, Șoșoacă talked to people she met on the street in a known meeting spot of legionnaire enthusiasts, glorifying Ion Antonescu and Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu. A passer-by then tells her that Zelea-Codreanu was the greatest patriot that ever lived, something Șoșoacă approves of, adding on a laudatory tone that he was a Law graduate from Iași.
Her pro-Russian jokes were relished by all the people in the kitchen, where she was broadcasting live, just as every narrative she uttered was met with approval, from xenophobic remarks about Ukrainians, to “Brothers, go and start a revolution”. And it’s not just people sitting in the same room with Diana Sosoacă that commend her discourse, but also the nearly five thousand followers who left her sympathetic comments, writing that they went to the voting precinct and annulled their votes, just as she had told them to, or those who express her love for her. These love declarations extend beyond comments on TikTok, becoming manifest on the way back home from the polling station, when Șoșoacă took pictures with her voters, hugged them or even kissed them. She did the same on the streets of Craiova, in live broadcasts recorded just days before the election. Moreover, she talked to her supporters, promising she would change the country, telling them “if you hate dullness, then vote SOS Romania”.
George Simion campaigned on TikTok on election day
In turn, George Simion was present on TikTok on election day, trying to reach out to voters, despite the fact that candidates were no longer allowed to continue their election campaign. Simion flouted the law, arguing repeatedly there was no need to tell people who to vote for, a practice specifically banned on election day.
During his live broadcast, Simion received calls from people who either told him they voted for him and expressed their support, or swore at him, saying they voted for a different candidate. If the person at the other end of the call had phoned to express his support, Simion urged them to encourage a few more dozen people to vote for him, claiming he needed to gather a thousand more votes. This was arguably the gap separating him from another candidate, according to his own sources. He even promised certain people he would follow them on Instagram if they got people to vote for him. However, even though people kept coming back, telling him they had done what he asked, demanding their precious follow-up request, Simion would deflect. When sworn at over the phone or when people called to tell him they had voted for Călin Georgescu or Elena Lasconi, Simion would always resort to sarcasm, “that’s a funny one, I enjoyed that”.
At one point, Simion phoned “Gigi” (George Becali), asking him to convey “a message to convince people to vote”. Becali said: “Everyone, go vote! Otherwise we risk having a woman as president, or someone like Georgescu, who is against the Church. So, come on, let's vote so we can save our country, let's vote for George Simion. Otherwise, we'll have a woman who lives in a different world and likes to drink wine too”.
Whenever he wasn’t taking calls from his fan club or giving instructions, whenever he wasn’t calling Gigi Becali or going live with Mihail Neamțu, Simion would hum “Giro, giro, girofaru’, we are here to cause a scandal” [“girofar” – Romanian for emergency lights; the line references a popular tune on TikTok, t.n.]. “Hello, hello, have you seen a brown horse dressed in a kimono?” [a parody of a well-known nursery rhyme, t.n.] or half-uttered swear words, adding seconds later he doesn't swear during live streams. These were the highlights of Simion’s live broadcast on election day, a broadcast he concluded by saying “This year, TikTok has crushed Antena 3”.
I’m not sure exactly what he was referring to, because people both criticized and praised him in the live comment section. He clearly did not enjoy the same wave of support Diana Şoșoacă basked in, as if Simion had now become part of the system and was no longer a member of the “rebel gang”. Apparently, even when the first exit polls were made public, the wave of support had stopped seeming that overwhelming, a fact later confirmed when the first preliminary results started to come in, presenting Călin Georgescu, a former member of AUR, already in second place in the presidential race. By 11:00 PM, Simion was already declaring “I’m very happy that a sovereigntist will still make it to the second round”.
It’s 3 AM on November 25, 2024, and on the website of the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), Simion is listed in fourth place. Marcel Ciolacu is in second place. The ranking is led by Călin Georgescu, someone who shares the same vein of extremist rhetoric as George Simion and Diana Șoșoacă. Four hours ago, the most frequent search on Google was “Who is Călin Georgescu?” In the meantime, popular searches grew to include “diaspora vote”, “Călin Georgescu’s wife”, “presidential betting quotas” or “Putin”.
Why do people Google-search Călin Georgescu and then do a search on Putin?
Călin Georgescu is one of the most vocal supporters of anti-Western rhetoric in Romania, who serve the interests of Vladimir Putin. Georgescu is a former member (and, at one point, even the honorary president) of AUR.
Călin Georgescu is one of the Romanians commended by the mouthpiece of Kremlin propaganda, Sputnik, which published several laudatory articles about him . In 2022, a criminal investigation targeted Călin Georgescu after he said that the Legionnaire leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, and Marshal Ion Antonescu, considered responsible for the Holocaust in Romania, “also did some good”. Georgescu was charged for promoting the people found guilty of genocide and war crimes, as well as for promoting fascist and legionnaire ideas, concepts and doctrines.
If you scroll down on Georgescu's TikTok profile, you will discover policies pursued by Soșoacă and Simion, repackaged nicely, elegantly, discreetly, in such a way as not to raise too many questions. Călin Georgescu is also one of the few Romanian politicians who criticized the anti-ballistic shield in Deveselu, a constant target of Russian propaganda in recent years.
Călin Georgescu disguises his pro-Russian statements as genuine concern for Romania’s well-being. He dismisses any questions and challenges lashed at him as whataboutisms, openly manipulating people following his videos, without making an effort to pretend otherwise. His TikTok videos are excerpts from election debates or shows that were edited in such ways as to represent him in a position of power, as if he were the one dominating the debate. This brought to mind the photos of Ceaușescu and foreign officials that were altered in such a way as to make the Romanian dictator appear taller, towering or appealing to the beholder.
According to an analysis carried out by G4Media.ro and Info Sud-Est, Georgescu's popularity on TikTok soared during the election campaign due to the very large number of tags bearing his name that appeared on all kinds of random posts about the first round of the election, in messages written by other candidates, but also in regular posts about the election.
Sovereigntist candidates grabbed nearly 40% of the vote
Diana Şoșoacă, George Simion and, more recently, Călin Georgescu have a lot in common. They employ the same type of populist and sovereigntist discourse, and their statements and positions over the years have been labeled as pro-Russian, conspiratorial, and even neo-legionnaire. They were all members of AUR at one point. During the election campaign, each made full use of TikTok – the network which, apparently, helped Călin Georgescu secure the top position in the first round, even though opinion polls had not credited him with a winning chance, while exit polls had placed him in third place. Joining them is Cristian Terheș, another candidate with sovereigntist discourse, who was also voted by approximately one hundred thousand people.
Altogether, sovereigntist candidates grabbed about 38% of the vote, adding to which are the null votes cast by Diana Șoșoacă’s followers. It is a huge leap forward for the sovereigntist movement, which has once again taken everyone by surprise - the political class, journalists, sociologists, just as AUR did in the previous election.
