Not widely known until a few months ago, the contentious Georgescu has voiced admiration for 1930s Romanian fascists, and after recent questioning by prosecutors gave what appeared to be a Nazi salute. He has criticised Romania’s commitments to the EU and Nato, praised Vladimir Putin — and Donald Trump — and wants to halt Romanian aid to Ukraine.

Romania’s largest far-right party is scrambling to find a candidate after the independent front-runner it supported was barred from May’s presidential election.

Romania's central election authority on Sunday barred far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu from running in May's presidential election re-run, a decision likely to deepen a constitutional crisis in the European Union and NATO member.

Analysts have said Ponta could sway some Georgescu voters away from whoever the hard-right parties put forward - giving him a chance of reaching the second round, where he could f

Romania's top court upheld a decision to ban far-right candidate Calin Georgescu from standing in a presidential election rerun in May, it said on Tuesday, leaving his allies with four days to find a replacement.

Romanian far-right populist Calin Georgescu has lost his appeal against a ruling barring him from participating in the country’s presidential election in May. The Constitutional Court issued the final ruling on Tuesday after deliberating for two hours,

A top Romanian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by far-right politician Calin Georgescu to lift a ban on his candidacy in the presidential rerun. He won the first round of last year’s race before the same court annulled the election.