Far-right surge in Romania

Far-rightist Calin Georgescu topped the first round of Romania’s presidential election on 24 November, with 23% of the vote. Georgescu had no large prior political base, praises Romania’s fascistic rulers before World War Two, lauds Putin, and dismisses Ukraine as an “invented state”.

In a smaller knock-on effect from Trump, on 7 November Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform party almost won a by-election for Blackpool in Bispham ward where it didn’t even stand in 2023. The Tory vote crashed there, and Labour won despite losing many votes. Shortly before Trump’s win, in October, Reform had won its first seat on the council in a by-election in Marton ward, where it got only 9% in 2023.

Reform is still a shaky outfit, and national opinion polls have not shifted much since 5 November. In Germany, the far-right AfD has not gained markedly since 5 November, but looks set to double its 10% score in the 2021 election. In Spain, the far-right Vox is doing much better in polls than in the 2023 election, while the left-wing Sumar is doing much worse.

If we do not pull the left together and build a vocal alternative within the labour movement to Starmer, the likely result is a surge of the Right or far-right.