On December 6, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round of presidential elections in the country. Before that, there were allegations that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote far-right candidate Georgescu, who won the first round.
Points of attention
- The Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round of presidential elections due to allegations of Russian interference through a coordinated online campaign.
- Intelligence confirmed a large-scale campaign on social media to support a far-right candidate who expressed anti-NATO views, leading to the annulment of the election results.
- The annulled election results have sparked questions and reactions in Romanian society, with a new date set for the re-run of the first round causing further speculation.
- Documents declassified by Romania's Supreme Security Council revealed that the country was targeted by 'aggressive hybrid Russian attacks' during the election, further highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
- The annulment of the election results and the allegations of Russian meddling have raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process in Romania and the implications for future elections.
In Romania, the results of the presidential elections were annulled
The Constitutional Court's decision is final and comes after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on December 4 alleging that Russia ran a massive campaign using thousands of TikTok and Telegram social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu.
Despite being an underdog who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu won on November 24. In the second round, which was supposed to take place on Sunday, he would meet with the reformist Yelena Lasconi from the "Union Save Romania" party.
A new date will now be set for the re-run of the first round.
The intelligence was obtained from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Ministry of the Interior.
In light of the intelligence disclosures, Romania's Constitutional Court has received numerous legal complaints calling for the results of the first round of voting to be annulled, but it is not yet clear on what grounds it made such a decision.
Last week, the same court ordered a recount of votes in the first round.
Elections in Romania: what is known
On November 25, 99.9% of the votes of the voters in the presidential elections were counted in Romania — Calin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi then passed in the second round.
Little-known politician Georgescu received 23%. He is an ardent critic of NATO, of which Romania is a member. In particular, he stated that the North Atlantic Alliance would not protect any of its members if they were attacked by Russia.
According to the far-right politician, if he wins the elections, he will stop the export of Ukrainian grain through Romania and aid to Kyiv.
How can I agree to this? This is impossible. Romania and the Romanian people above all else. It is unthinkable to have a war in the middle of Europe next to us, so the priority will certainly be to stop this war in Ukraine immediately.
Documents declassified Wednesday by Romania's Supreme Security Council say the country was targeted by "aggressive hybrid Russian attacks" during the recent presidential election.
