Romania's political future looked uncertain Monday after legislative elections produced a fragmented parliament, with the far right making big gains a week before the second round of a presidential election in which a pro-Russian candidate is in pole position.
The ruling pro-European Social Democrats (PSD) were ahead after Sunday's parliamentary vote with 22 percent with nearly all ballots counted, four points ahead of the far-right AUR party.
But the combined vote of all the far-right parties shot up to an unprecedented 32 percent.
The surge comes just a week after Calin Georgescu -- a little-known pro-Russian far-right candidate with no party behind him -- took a shock lead in the first round of the presidential elections after a TikTok-fired campaign.
His victory plunged the EU country which borders Ukraine into turmoil, with the authorities alleging Russian interference in the vote.
The far right now represents "the biggest bloc" in parliament, said political science professor Sergiu Miscoiu.
As well as the AUR party, the extreme-right SOS Romania party led by firebrand Diana Sosoaca and the recently founded Party of Young People (POT) made gains and will all enter parliament.
It "will be highly fragmented, with no dominant party", Marius Ghincea, a political scientist at ETH Zurich, told AFP.
He said the PSD cannot govern without the support of two other parties, which suggests "a high degree of instability in the short-to-medium term".
Boosted by high inflation, Romania's far-right parties are united in their opposition to aid being sent to neighbouring Ukraine, while promising to defend "Christian values".
At the same time they are "internally divided" and cannot govern alone, said Ghincea.
Faced with the prospect of a fragmented parliament, several leading figures said they will try to shore up support for a pro-European "government of national unity".
But what happens next in Romania depends on who will become the country's next president, as he or she "designates the next prime minister", said Ghincea, adding the president will play a "key role".
While the post is largely ceremonial, the head of state has considerable moral authority and influence on Romania's foreign policy.
Georgescu's surprise success has raised fears in the West of a pro-Russian shift in the highly strategic NATO member.
The first-round victory of the 62-year-old anti-vaxxer and admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin has triggered daily protests in the capital Bucharest and elsewhere.
"In the climate we are in now, I don't think we can afford not to vote, especially given this wave of extremism that's swept over us," said Ilinca Chifane, a 22-year-old architecture student.
Romania's constitutional court -- which last week ordered a recount of the first round of the presidential ballot after authorities accused Russia of interference via TikTok -- was due to meet on Monday to consider a request to annul the first round.
TikTok has "categorically" denied the accusations.
If a re-run happens, it would likely be scheduled for December 15, followed by a second round on December 29.
Georgescu is to face Elena Lasconi, the leader of the centrist, pro-EU USR party, in the run-off. Her party got 12.4 percent of the vote in the parliamentary poll.
Miscoiu said a lot hinges on the PSD, which has yet said who it will support.
Some voters like 71-year-old retiree Doina Matei hope that calm will soon be restored.
She said the election was a sign "from God telling us to stop quarrelling, to become more united, more rational and well-meaning for what concerns us as a nation".
