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Romania’s top court annuls results of first round of presidential election

3 weeks ago
Romania's top court annuls results of first round of presidential election

Romania’s top court has annulled the results of the first round of the country’s presidential election after claims of Russian interference.

The unprecedented decision came after declassified intelligence documents alleged Russia was behind a campaign to promote far-right candidate Calin Georgescu on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.

Mr Georgescu was viewed as an outsider in the race and had not declared any campaign spending, but emerged as the frontrunner following the first round on 24 November.

He was due to face pro-EU Elena Lasconi, of the Save Romania Union party, in a run-off on Sunday.

The Constitutional Court said in a statement it “annuls the entire electoral process regarding the election of the president of Romania”.

“The government will establish a new date for the election… as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions,” it added.

Ms Lasconi criticised the court’s decision, arguing the vote should have continued and respected the will of the Romanian people.

While “Russian propaganda” is a “serious problem”, she said the consequences should be dealt with after free elections.

The leader of the hard-right party Alliance for Uniting Romanians, George Simion, described the court ruling as a “coup d’etat”, accusing judges of being “scared” of a candidate “outside the system”.

Image:
Elena Lasconi. Pic: AP

Could decision help Georgescu?

Nobody saw this coming. The news that the Romanian presidential election has been cancelled came as a shock and magnified the controversy surrounding the favourite, Calin Georgescu.

It’s clear the Constitutional Court believes there has been some level of misconduct or, at the very least, that a further investigation is warranted into Georgescu’s election campaign.

The central claim is Russia helped to magnify his social media presence in order to win votes for a candidate who, it has been alleged, is Moscow’s preferred candidate.

But it’s also inevitable Georgescu will use this court decision as proof the political establishment is out to thwart him in any way possible, a belief he put forward several times when we spoke yesterday.

He also said he was “not a fan” of Vladimir Putin, but did believe he was a “leader and a patriot”.

He was, in many people’s eyes, the favourite to win the election when it was originally scheduled for Sunday.

Now, we don’t know when the election will happen or whether the extraordinary tidal wave of support that took him to the brink of victory will sustain into the next vote.

‘Trampled on democracy’

His opponent, Elena Lasconi, expressed anger, saying the state had “trampled on democracy” and insisted “we should have gone ahead with the vote”.

She insisted that she would have won.

For the moment, Romania is a nation blinking in surprise – some of its voters are likely to be furious this election has been canned, some will be relieved, thinking that breathing space is better than a contentious clash.

Everyone is confused and shocked. It is a volatile moment.

The initial result had threatened the country’s pro-Ukraine stance, with Mr Georgescu refusing to explicitly say whether he supports Russia.

He has previously said Romania – a member of NATO and the European Union – has its best chances with “Russian wisdom”.

Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Mr Georgescu – who does not believe in COVID or man-made climate change – said accusations his sudden rise to success has been orchestrated by Russia were not true.

Read more:
Candidate Georgescu denies links to Russia
How far-right candidate’s TikTok rocked election

The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas including defence spending, national security and foreign policy.

Far-right parties also performed well in last Sunday’s parliamentary election, though the ruling Social Democrats came out as the largest faction and hope to form a pro-EU coalition government.

The court has not questioned the integrity of the parliamentary vote.