Romania’s current tumultuous “democratic” election cycle serves as an example of and a warning against the Left’s means of preserving “democracy.” It also illustrates authoritarian creep, wherein certain political views are seen as outside the bounds of acceptable political parties.

The story begins last fall when a candidate named Calin Georgescu, who is described as holding nationalist and “far-right” views and is supposedly sympathetic to Russia, seemingly came out of nowhere to win the highest percentage of the vote over all other candidates.

Romania’s election structure triggers a runoff election among the top two candidates if one candidate does not win more than 50% of the vote. At this point, Romania’s deep state, as one might describe it, stepped in to declare the election null and void because Georgescu had somehow cheated.

And how exactly had Georgescu “cheated”? Well, the claim was Russian interference. As the Associated Press reported, “The Constitutional Court annulled last year’s election two days before the Dec. 8 runoff, after allegations emerged that Russia had run a coordinated online campaign to promote far-right Georgescu, who ran as an independent. Moscow has denied meddling in the election.”

It sounds a lot like Romania’s version of the 2016 Russia collusion hoax.

However, with a rerun election scheduled for early May and Georgescu leading in the polls, the nation’s Central Election Bureau (BEC) decided that he was disqualified from running. Gotta protect “democracy” from the citizenry.

To make matters worse, the BEC also disqualified the next leading “far-right” candidate, Diana Sosoaca, leader of the nationalist S.O.S Romania Party. The BEC argued that because she criticized both the European Union and NATO, she was unfit for the highest office in the land.

So, with two leading “far-right” candidates eliminated, Romania’s ruling deep state set the next phase in motion in what seems to be an effort to paint a veneer of non-biased fairness on the nation’s democratic process. The BEC did approve the candidacy of another so-called “far-right” politician, George Simion, the leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians.

However, Simion’s chances of being on the May 4 ballot are no guarantee, either. He is under criminal investigation over claims of inciting violence after voicing opposition to barring Georgescu from running. Translation: If Simion’s chances of winning the election look good, he’ll suddenly see his presidential candidacy shut down.

And once again, the excuse will be the need to protect democracy. This is the inherent problem with leftists and democracy — they don’t trust it if it allows the populace to vote against their agenda.

Like the Democrats in the U.S., globalist leftists in Europe use the term “democracy” as coded language to obscure what they really mean: progressivism. They are not concerned with safeguarding the democratic process; instead, they are concerned with protecting their politically progressive establishment. The irony is that the democratic process threatens their maintenance of power.

Romania’s current presidential election debacle exposes this reality for the watching world to see. The EU, of which Romania is a member, doesn’t believe in democracy or national sovereignty. These are both merely convenient mirages designed to placate the citizenry into thinking they have a say in who leads their country.