Romanians go to polls for parliamentary election amid Russian interference claims

• 1 December, 17:22

Romanians on Sunday cast their ballots in parliamentary election just a week after the first round of a presidential election saw a far-right, populist candidate take a lead.

The legislative vote on Sunday will elect a new government and prime minister. The country’ s Central Election Bureau reported that by 1 p.m., up to 23% of eligible voters - around 4.2 million people - had cast ballots. The parliamentary election comes a week after the first round of presidential election in which a right-wing, Moscow-leaning independent candidate Calin Georgescu, 62, won majority of votes despite earlier polling suggestions that he would not secure enough votes.

Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party, USR, in the second round of presidential elections on December 8.

Georgescu’s victory shows a major shift from Romania’s mainstream parties to more populist parties.  He gained popularity due to his TikTok social media account. His surprise victory in Sunday’s election raised suspicions of interference in election campaign, with the national security officer even claimed that the country was targeted by cyber attacks intended to affect the first round of the presidential election. The allegations of interference and election irregularities prompted the Romanian top court to recount votes. On Thursday, the Constitutional Court deferred a decision on whether to annul the first-round of presidential race until Monday.