BUCHAREST: Romania’s constitutional court on Friday cancelled the country’s presidential election following allegations of Russian interference in favour of the far-right frontrunner, just two days ahead of the run-off.

Romanian authorities objected after outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round of the election on Nov 24, a shock result in the EU and Nato member bordering Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the presidency declassified documents detailing allegations against Georgescu and Russia, including “massive” social media promotion and cyber-attacks.

The court said it had unanimously decided “to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the president of Romania... to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process”.

“The government will set a new date for the election of the president of Romania,” it added.

‘Trampled democracy’

Georgescu, a former senior civil servant, had been due to face centrist mayor Elena Lasconi in Sunday’s runoff.

“Today is the moment when the Romanian state has trampled democracy,” Lasconi, a former journalist, 52, said in a video recording, calling the decision “illegal, immoral... crushing the very essence of democracy”.

Fears had been raised that if Georgescu won, the country would join the EU’s far-right bloc and undermine European unity against Russia.

Washington has warned of “serious negative impact” if Romania -- whose strategic importance has increased since Russia invaded Ukraine — turned away from the West.

Outgoing Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who lost in the first round of presidential elections, welcomed the court’s decision in a post on Facebook.

It was, he said, “the only correct solution after the declassification of the documents... which show that the result of the Romanians’ vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia’s intervention”.

The documents, drawn up for a security council meeting and published on Wednesday, said data had “revealed an aggressive promotional campaign, in violation of electoral legislation, and an exploitation of algorithms to increase the popularity of Calin Georgescu at an accelerated pace”.

Last week authorities slammed “preferential treatment” of Georgescu by TikTok, which the social media platform has denied. It said on Thursday it had “no evidence that a coordinated campaign has taken place on our platform to date”.

The European Commission announced however that it had stepped up monitoring of TikTok’s role in the elections.

A separate intelligence services document stated that Romania “is perceived by Moscow’s policy centres as an enemy state”.

Romania is a “target for aggressive Russian hybrid actions, including cyberattacks and hacks and leaks and sabotage”, it added.

Investigation

Anti-corruption prosecutors said on Friday they have opened an investigation into “illegal operations with computer devices or software”.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024