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Leader of Romanian far-right ultras group is likely entering parliament after today's elections. Not by chance, but leading his own party. I’m pretty shocked and here’s why. https://www.gsp.ro/gsp-special/diverse/cine-e-aur-partidul-surpriza-de-la-alegerile-parlamentare-george-simion-presedintele-ultras-617859.html
George Simion is one of the founders of a far-right ultras group called ‘Uniti Sub Tricolor’ active at Romania national team matches. After several failed attempts to get elected, he created his own party, AUR, which is now likely to pass the 5% threshold and enter parliament.
'Uniti Sub Tricolor' led the chants calling to 'drive Hungarians out of the country' during national team matches, and equated refugees with terrorists spewing far-right propaganda from the stands. These are just a few examples of incidents we reported to UEFA perpetrated by them
Simion's party, Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), calls to 'Unite Romanians everywhere', which translates into territorial claims towards mainly Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary etc. With a simple slogan, empty program and shady finances, football part is what stands out here.
The party pretty much ticks all the usual boxes for a modern right-wing populist party - religion, historic revisionism, 'family values', aggressive online campaigning and street mobilisation, stoking ethnic tensions and enjoying murky but generous cash flows.
Romanian FA and the police have been trying to get a grip on the situation but far-right groups like 'Uniti Sub Tricolor' and 'Camarazii' are pretty much in control during Romania national team matches. In short, with MP status for Simion and his mobilisation things won't be easy
Obviously the guy didn't jump straight from the stands to the parliament, but the resource and mobilisation that ultras provide is hard to ignore, particularly when driving the far-right agenda. More examples here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/10/06/la-familia-beita-jerusalem-israel-netenyahu-protests/
When you see 10 thousand people in the street chanting something like 'we'll drive Hungarians out of the country' - it's pretty big. When you see it in the stadium - not many people seemed to care. However minor party AUR is, parliament access is a massive boost.
Even more shocking, the far-right #AUR party led by a football ultras leader gains close to 9% of the vote, way over 5% predicted by the exit polls amidst a record low turnout in #Romanian parliamentary elections.
