Radu Sigheti / Courtesy Reuters A man holds a sign reading "We want democracy like in EU, not like in Russia" in front of government headquarters in Bucharest, November 2014.
Snapshot Eastern Europe & CaucasusCorruption

The Eastern European Spring

Voters Tilt Toward Pro-EU, Anti-Corruption Candidates

By Mitchell A. Orenstein and Bojan Bugaric

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MITCHELL A. ORENSTEIN is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Northeastern University. He is also an affiliate of both the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. BOJAN BUGARIC is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ljubljana, in Slovenia, and Visiting Researcher at the Minda de Gunzburg Center at Harvard University.
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On November 16, when the Romanian people elected as president Klaus Iohannis, an ethnic German who ran a vigorous campaign against corruption, they shattered a number of illusions about politics in eastern Europe. Since the end of the Cold War, Western analysts and media have portrayed eastern Europe as a region dogged by a xenophobic nationalism, where uncivilized voters are quick to turn to ethno-nationalist parties in times of trouble. Although Hungary’s recent slide into authoritarianism conforms to this narrative, Iohannis’ victory tells another story—as do recent elections in several other postcommunist states.

In Romania, election results suggest that eastern Europeans have directed their frustrations not at ethnic minorities but at their own governments, which are riddled with corruption and inefficiencies. Iohannis’ opponent, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, ran a campaign that catered to the nationalist vote, promising to support traditional Romanian values of “the army, church, and family” and arguing that Romania should incorporate neighboring Moldova. But he was soundly defeated on polling day. Instead, voters chose a solidly pro-EU political outsider who promised good governance.

Romanians are not alone. Eastern Europeans continue to see the EU as the most credible antidote to countrywide corruption, as demonstrated by recent elections in Slovenia and Ukraine. In July, Slovenians elected Miro Cerar, a moralistic law professor who ran on an anticorruption, antiestablishment platform, to be prime minister. Cerar defeated both the center-left and the center-right by promising to restore fair governance to a country stuck in economic recession. Slovenians, tired of

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