Romania election: what next after ultranationalist’s shock first-round victory?

Călin Georgescu has said that Romania should rely on ‘Russian wisdom’ when dealing with foreign affairs. Photograph: Alexandru Dobre/AP

After an upset in the first of three crunch votes that could lead to Romania veering towards a more anti-EU, pro-Russian stance, the EU and Nato member state returns to the polls on Sunday for a parliamentary ballot followed, on 8 December, by a presidential runoff.

The votes will be closely watched not least in Brussels, which does not want another disruptive, sovereignist influence in the region alongside Hungary and Slovakia, and among western allies, which Bucharest has reliably backed against Moscow.