Romanian top court defers decision on annulling presidential vote
- 29 November, 08:35
Romania’s constitutional court has deferred until Monday a decision on whether to annul the first-round of presidential race in which a far-right candidate won majority of votes.
The court ordered on Thursday that the recount of first round of votes would end on Sunday night. A parliamentary election is scheduled for the same day. The court’s decision to recount votes follows a complaint filed by Cristian Terheș, a member of the European Parliament who received about 1 percent of the vote during the presidential election.
Romania has been in political turmoil following Moscow-friendly and anti-EU candidate Calin Georgescu’s surprise victory in the first round of presidential election on November 24. The independent candidate had been previously polling at nearly 5%. Centrist Elena Lasconi came second in the election, while Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was knocked out of the race.
There have been multiple allegations of elections irregularities and fraud, which prompted the constitutional court to unanimously order a“re-verification and recount of all ballots". The national security officer claimed on Thursday that the country was targeted by cyber attacks intended to affect the first round of the presidential election.
According to polls, the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians could win about 22% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, just ahead of the centre-left Social Democrat party.
