Romania’s Constitutional Court has annulled the results of the first round of the country’s presidential elections, days after allegations surfaced that Russia conducted a coordinated online campaign to promote a far-right candidate who won the first round, Călin Georgescu, the Associated Press reports.
The court’s decision is final and follows Romanian President Klaus Iohannis’ declassification of intelligence data on 4 December. The data alleged that Russia carried out a large-scale campaign using thousands of accounts on TikTok and Telegram to support Călin Georgescu.
Although Georgescu was considered an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, he secured a victory on 24 November. He had been set to face reformist Elena Lasconi from the Save Romania Union party in a runoff scheduled for 8 December. A new date will now be set to rerun the vote from the start.
The intelligence data obtained from Romania’s Intelligence Service, Foreign Intelligence Service, Special Telecommunications Service, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs highlighted Russia’s alleged influence operations.
In light of the intelligence revelations, the Constitutional Court received numerous complaints calling for the annulment of the first-round results. However, it remains unclear on what specific grounds the court made its ruling.
Last week, the same court ordered a recount of the first-round votes.
On 25 November, with 99.9% of the votes counted, Călin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi were declared the candidates advancing to the second round. Georgescu, a previously little-known politician, received 23% of the vote, according to UkrInform.
He is a vocal critic of NATO, of which Romania is a member, claiming the alliance would fail to protect its members if Russia attacked.
Documents declassified by Romania’s Supreme Security Council stated that the country was targeted by “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the recent presidential election.
Earlier, Georgescu said that if he becomes president, he will halt assistance to Ukraine and will also stop the export of Ukrainian grain through Romania.
Related:
- “Ignore the electoral noise: Georgescu’s TikTok triumph signals nothing about Ukraine,” says Romanian ex-diplomat
- TikTok, not anti-Ukraine stance, behind Romanian election surprise, ex-diplomat says
- Pro-Russian candidate leads first round in Romania presidential race
- Today’s Romanian election could reverse country’s support for Ukraine