Romania’s top court annuls results of presidential election’s first round
Constitutional Court says move aims to ensure ‘correctness, legality’ of process amid Russian interference claims.
A presidential run-off was scheduled for December 8, 2024, in Romania, but a new date will now be set [File: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters]Published On 6 Dec 20246 Dec 2024
Romania’s top court has annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election and says the process must be rerun after allegations that Russia ran a coordinated campaign to promote the far-right candidate who emerged as the winner.
The Constitutional Court’s decision on Friday, which is final, came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence this week that alleged Romania was the target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period.
The alleged effort included thousands of social media accounts that promoted far-right populist Calin Georgescu across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.
The court has decided “to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania … to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process”, it said in Friday’s decision.
Georgescu, a pro-Russian candidate who wants to end Romania’s support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, emerged as the frontrunner in the first-round vote on November 24 despite being a political outsider who declared zero campaign spending.
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He was due to face pro-European Union centrist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a run-off on Sunday. Voting is already under way in polling stations abroad.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the court’s ruling was “the only correct decision” after the declassified documents showed alleged Russian interference.
The intelligence files released on Wednesday were from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In light of their release, the Constitutional Court received multiple legal complaints urging it to annul the first-round vote, but it is not clear yet on what grounds it made the decision.
A new date will now be set to rerun the first round.
“The electoral process to elect Romania’s president will be fully rerun, and the government will set a new date and … calendar for the necessary steps,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement.