Romania’s seven million-strong diaspora, one of the biggest in Europe, was once considered a source of votes for reformist parties and candidates. Yet in the country’s recent presidential, parliamentary and euro-parliamentary elections, many Romanians abroad opted for hard-right populists, continuing a trend that started in 2020. While almost a third of Romanians remaining in the country voted for extremist parties on 1 December, more than half of the diaspora opted for the far right.
The Romanian diaspora in Britain has followed this trend. On the Facebook group “Romanians in the UK”, the first post I come across is a demeaning caricature portraying pro-European, reformist presidential candidate Elena Lasconi, mayor of Câmpulung Muscel, a former journalist and MasterChef winner, throwing her ballot into the box; the text is: “I voted. From tomorrow onwards, boys will wear skirts and heels to vote for me. Slava marijuana.”
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