Romanian court annuls results of presidential election
- 6 December, 11:07
Constitutional Court in Romania has annulled the results of the first round of presidential election just days before the second round was due to take place and announced new elections will be held instead.
"The electoral process for the election of the President of Romania will be resumed in its entirety, with the Government required to set a new date for the election of the President of Romania as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions," the court said in a statement on Friday. The court explained that the first round was cancelled due to legal disputes over election’s fairness with various petitions submitted to the court before the runoff. The government now has up to 90 days to organize new elections.
The first round of the election held last week saw a far-right, populist candidate Calin Georgescu who is Kremlin sympathizer and is a critic of the country’s EU integration. Georgescu faces allegations that during the first round of the presidential elections he benefited from disinformation campaigns and coordinated promotion on TikTok social media platform where he had popularity. Romanian authorities have called for an investigation into TikTok’s role in amplifying his message. There are also concerns about foreign interference and social media's influence on democratic processes in Romania.
Georgescu faced reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party, USR, in the second round of presidential elections on December 8.
