Romanian presidential election to be rerun after reports of Russian interference
Romania's Constitutional Court has on Friday scrapped the result of the first round of the presidential elections in the Eastern European country following reports of Russian interference. The second round, which was to take place on Sunday, was cancelled and the elections must be completely rerun.
Pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu very surprisingly won the first round of the elections on 24 November. Immediately after the announcement of the results, rumours surfaced that Russia tried to influence the election, including through the manipulation of social network TikTok. “The Court cancels the entire election process to ensure the validity and legality of the vote,” stated Romania's Constitutional Court now in a press release. “The entire electoral process must be restarted.”
As recently as Thursday, the European Commission had shared that it had received “recently declassified information” that may point to Russia's interference. Amongst other things, it is demanding transparency from TikTok regarding its user suggestion system and its approach to combating manipulation.
The second round of Romania's presidential elections would normally take place on Sunday and go between Georgescu and conservative-liberal candidate Elena Lasconi. Romania's left-wing, pro-European current prime minister Marcel Ciolacu had finished third in the first round.
The decision of the Constitutional Court concludes two turbulent weeks in Romanian politics, but could also be the start of even more chaos. The new elections are expected to take place on 15 and 29 December, but this is not yet certain.
Romania's presidential candidate Calin Georgescu leaves a polling station after voting for parliamentary elections in Mogosoaia, near Bucharest, on 1 December 2024 © BELGA PHOTO Mihai Barbu / AFP
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