Romanian Court Overturns First-Round Presidential Election Results

Romania’s constitutional court has annulled the first round of the presidential election. This is days before the second round was to be held. The decision has thrown the country’s politics into disarray. It means the election process will restart from scratch. The government must now set a new date for the vote. Calin Georgescu won the annulled first round. He is a little-known far-right NATO skeptic who has praised Putin. The ruling follows the declassification of intelligence documents. Reports on https://www.betamo.com show a foreign plot to sway the vote. It benefited Georgescu.

Hours after the court’s decision, Georgescu spoke to a Romanian TV channel. He said the country’s democracy was “under attack.” He called the verdict a “formalized coup d’état.”

He said he would “go forward through the voting process.” This implies he would try to run again for president. Yet, it’s unclear if that’s possible.

Outgoing Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that releasing declassified documents made canceling the election “the only right decision.” The results of the Romanians’ votes showed that Russia’s intervention distorted it.

On Friday evening, current President Klaus Iohannis confirmed that he would stay in the role until voters elect a new president.

He said Romania was a stable and safe country. He stressed Romania’s commitment to Europe and its NATO allyship. He called the court’s ruling vital for “national security.”

• The annulment of Romania’s presidential election has sparked a debate. It is about its impact on the country’s future.
• Russian meddling in Romania’s election is troubling. It echoes past interference in other countries.

The court announced last night that they would not review new evidence. Despite that, it convened on Friday morning to deliberate. They announced last night that they would not discuss new information on external influence on the elections.

The law says that if an election is canceled, it should resume on the second Sunday after the annulment. That would be 22nd December.

Yet, the court has decided to ask the government to rerun the entire election and campaign.

Last week, the court ordered a recount of votes from Sunday’s first round. This was due to claims that TikTok gave an edge to the surprise winner, Călin Georgescu.

The complaint that some votes may have gone to the runner-up, Elena Lasconi, was due to the recount. By Monday night, the court had dismissed the vote misallocation claims. They were baseless.

Georgescu, a radical with no party of his own, campaigned on TikTok. The platform stated that it was “false to claim it treated his account differently than any other candidate.”

He won 23% of the vote. Elena Lasconi of the opposition Save Romania Union got 19%. In a close election, the ruling Social Democrats’ Marcel Ciolacu finished third.

Lasconi called the court’s decision “illegal” and “immoral.” He said, “The Romanian state has crushed democracy.””

He added, “Like it or not, nine million Romanian citizens have cast their votes legally for a candidate.” They are both in the country and abroad.” We cannot ignore their will!” she said.

She had been aiming to win the second-round run-off on Sunday, but it has now been canceled.

This week, Georgescu denied to the BBC that he was Moscow’s man.

He claimed the political elite could not handle his success and were trying to block him.

The country is now in totally new territory politically. Now, the next steps remain unclear.

Romania’s presidential election is in chaos. The first-round results were annulled due to claims of foreign meddling. The entire election process will now start over. This raises doubts about the country’s democracy.

With high political tensions and no clear plan, Romania faces a tough road ahead. It must restore trust in its elections and protect its national security.