Liliana Stancu returned to Romania in March 2024 after seven years between Spain and Germany, working in recruitment. This 36-year-old woman is now part of the campaign team of the Alliance for Romanian Unity (AUR). For her, this conservative right party, founded in 2019, represents “a hope” for Romania which she left, “disappointed by the system and the political class”. AUR claims to be sovereignist, but does not wish to leave the European Union (EU) and NATO.
Before the legislative elections on December 1, Liliana manages relations with the diaspora from Bucharest, made up of around 5 million individuals – or 20% of the population – who left in several waves after the fall of communism in 1989. Like her, they were looking for decent wages and living conditions. There are more than a million of them in Italy, where they form the country’s largest migrant community. Next comes Germany, with 900,000 people, while France has around 130,000.
The ultra-right in the European Parliament
For fifteen years, Romania has opened several polling stations abroad, more than 900 in 2024. The diaspora has long supported the right against the Social Democratic Party (PSD) – today accused of the country’s systemic problems –, but the trend changes in 2020, when she helps AUR enter the Romanian Parliament. “Voters felt abandoned, especially during Covid, and our party was there to listen to them,” supports Liliana Stancu.
But after the creation of AUR, considered by some to be too moderate, ultra-right groups followed. They then attract many voters, in Romania and abroad. The diaspora thus allowed a former member of the AUR, Diana Sosoaca, ultra-right candidate of SOS, to enter the European Parliament. Then, during the first round of the presidential election on November 24, 43% of the 820,000 votes of Romanians abroad went to the ultra-right independent Calin Georgescu, compared to 23% nationally.
A result which is partly explained by its “outsider” side and growing popularity on TikTok – with suspicions of Russian interference. Elena Lasconi (center right) collects 27% from the diaspora, while the AUR candidate, George Simion, only obtains 12% of the votes. The latter will support Georgescu in the second round, on December 8, “a sovereignist” like him.
Votes “so as not to disappear”
Thus, AUR, which was seen as a favorite, even in the legislative elections where the polls credit it with 20%, saw its popularity decline to the benefit of Georgescu. George Simion’s party has smoothed out in recent months. Ramona Lovin, diaspora coordinator for AUR who traveled across Europe during the campaign, sees “the vote for Georgescu in the diaspora above all as an anti-system vote, against all the parties which have done nothing, neither for them abroad, nor to improve living conditions in Romania so that they can to come back. Some voters already think of us as part of the system, having been in Parliament for four years.”
This 44-year-old woman, who lived in Italy for eighteen years, sees it as a “cry of despair” and an existential fear in a country with a declining birth rate and growing social exclusion. In response, she believes that, “in order not to disappear as a people, we must return to our Christian roots and our traditions”. According to Ramona, the diaspora “wanted to show that it exists and that it can influence the vote”.
Calin Georgescu, with his Eurosceptic and isolationist postures, obtains high scores in Western Europe, which may seem contradictory. But according to analyst Sorina Soare, a researcher at the University of Florence, “These voters are not necessarily anti-European, but there may be a feeling of marginalization. The idea of Romania being treated as a “colony” by the EU often comes up among radical right candidates. The delayed entry into Schengen or the double standard on food products fuel this perception.” In the legislative elections, the vote for the radical right parties AUR, SOS and POT – a party which supports Calin Georgescu – could confirm the trend.
