Romanian authorities arrest 'far-right' presidential candidate after Vance rebuke of elections

Romanian authorities on Wednesday arrested former presidential "far-right" populist candidate Calin Georgescu, amid allegations that he and his team made "false statements regarding the sources of financing" of an electoral campaign.

Georgescu emerged as a prominent voice in Romanian politics after he won the first round of the country's canceled election last year. Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the election just two days before the runoff was expected to take place, prompting an investigation of alleged campaign funding fraud, antisemitism and hate speech, per Fox News.

The unprecedented cancellation also spurred allegations of Russian interference and electoral violations in the race.

Georgescu's communications team wrote on Facebook that the politician was arrested at a traffic stop while on his way to submit his new candidacy for the presidency. He was detained for questioning by the General Prosecutor’s Office.

"[Authorities] are looking to invent evidence to justify the theft of the elections and to do anything to block my new candidacy for the presidency," Georgescu said.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu posted on X that the court and judiciary system is separate from politics, but that "law must be applied regardless of persons."

"In Romania's electoral context, judicial authorities have the duty to present to the public extremely solid evidence in the investigation in which, among dozens of people, a potential candidate in the May elections is also involved," he wrote. "I emphasize that I will never comment on a decision of the judiciary or an investigation by prosecutors. Romania is a democracy in which the separation of powers in the state fully operates."

The detainment comes after Vice President JD Vance told an audience at the Munich Security Conference that the threat he worried about the most regarding Europe was not Russia, but the threat from within.

"What I worry about is the threat from within – the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America," Vance said. "You don't have shared values if you cancel elections because you don't like the result – and that happened in Romania – if you're so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up.

"So let's have shared values. Let's defend democracy. Let's have free expression, not just in the United States, but all over the Western world. That is the path to strong alliances in Europe," he added.

Romanian authorities have also raided 47 addresses of people tied to Georgescu, and searched the home of his campaign manager earlier this month. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.