Romania’s Constitutional Court Friday canceled the presidential run-off election between far-right candidate Calin Georgescu and centrist Elena Lasconi. The court cited a Russian propaganda campaign supporting Georgescu as the reason.
Georgescu (L) casts his ballot in Mogosoaia village, near Bucharest, Romania, Dec. 1. Photo by Robert Ghement/ EPA-EFE
Dec. 6 (UPI) — Romania’s Constitutional Court Friday canceled the presidential run-off election between far-right candidate Calin Georgescu and centrist Elena Lasconi. The court cited a Russian propaganda campaign as the reason.
The court said in a statement that its decision two days before the run-off was to occur “annuls the entire electoral process regarding the election of the president of Romania.”
Declassified Romanian intelligence documents contained a security services warning that Russia had attacked the election system with an “aggressive hybrid action” to elevate a far-right previously politically unknown candidate.
The declassified intelligence documents said Georgescu’s victory was “not a natural outcome” and a “state actor” elevated him with an artificial coordinated social media campaign.
The documents said Georgescu benefitted from a propaganda campaign by 25,000 accounts on TikTok that were activated just two weeks before the first-round vote.
The intelligence reports also uncovered several alleged illegalities in Georgescu’s campaign financing.
“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 Constitutional Court said in a statement.
Lasconi opposed the court’s action.
“Today is the moment when the Romanian state trampled over democracy,” Lasconi said. “God, the Romanian people, the truth and the law will prevail and will punish those who are guilty of destroying our democracy.”
The startling and unprecedented controversial move by the Constitutional Court plunged Romania into uncharted political waters, with a possible brand new election in spring 2025.
Incumbent Prime Minister and current Social Democratic Party candidate Marcel Ciolacu said the court did the right thing.
“The CCR’s decision to cancel the presidential elections is the only correct solution after the declassification of documents from the CSAT meeting, which show that the result of the Romanian vote was flagrantly distorted following Russian intervention,” Ciolacu said.
In the first round of the election the far-right Georgescu got 23% of the vote and Lasconi got 19%. Ciolacu was third.
The far-right nationalist AUR party leader George Simion called the court decision a “coup d’état in full swing.”
Romania is strategically important to NATO and the EU’s support for Ukraine. The far-right candidate has vowed to end aid to Ukraine while attacking the actions of NATO and the EU.