The Constitutional Court of Romania has annulled the results of the first round of the presidential elections, where the far-right candidate Călin Georgescu emerged victorious.
This was reported by Digi24 citing official sources.
The second round of the presidential elections in Romania: what is known about the candidatesCălin Georgescu and Elena Lascu will compete for the presidency in the second round. What is known about the candidates is detailed in the article.The decision is final and cannot be appealed. This means that the entire electoral process in the country will be restarted, beginning with the registration and approval of candidates.
The new election date, along with all organizational matters, must be approved by the Romanian government.
It is noted that the judges of the Constitutional Court made this decision after an urgent meeting on Friday, “under conditions where the Central Election Commission received a large number of new requests for the annulment of the presidential elections.”
The requests cited declassified documents from the Supreme Council of Defense of the country, which allegedly indicated violations in Georgescu's campaign. In particular, media reports suggested that 25,000 bot accounts on TikTok may have been campaigning in favor of the candidate.
Recall that in the first round, Georgescu shockingly garnered 22.94% of the votes. He advanced to the second round alongside liberal-conservative representative Elena Lascu, who received 19.17% of the voters' support.
It was previously reported that Georgescu threatened to halt aid to Ukraine in the event of his victory.