Romania’s Constitutional Court has made a surprising decision. They have annulled the results of the country‘s presidential election.
This comes after allegations surfaced that Russia was behind an online campaign to support a far-right candidate, Călin Georgescu. The court has ruled that the first round of voting should be rerun from scratch.
Romania is a strong supporter of Ukraine and its leadership had already been giving aid to Kyiv amid the ongoing war with Russia. However, concerns have grown about a potential shift in Romania’s foreign policy due to the growing influence of pro–Russian far-right politicians.
Călin Georgescu was considered an outsider before he won the first round of voting on November 24th. He had promised not to spend any money on his campaign and secured 23% of the vote. His rival, Elena Lasconi, from the Save Romania Union party, would have faced him in a runoff election on December 8th.
The decision by the Constitutional Court has come after President Klaus Iohannis released intelligence data that alleged Russia had used thousands of online accounts to support Georgescu’s campaign. The court received many complaints calling for the annulment of the first-round results and even ordered a recount of the votes last week.
It is unclear on what specific grounds the court made its ruling. However, it is clear that this decision has sparked outrage in Romania and possibly elsewhere.