Bucharest: The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) decided to annul the entire electoral process of the presidential elections despite the second round of voting having already begun in the diaspora.
The ruling was announced on Friday, just two days before the second round of the presidential election, which was set to feature a showdown between independent candidate Calin Georgescu and the Save Romania Union leader Elena Lasconi, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the results of the first round of the presidential election announced last week by the Central Electoral Bureau, Georgescu secured the lead with 2,120,401 votes (22.94 per cent), followed by Lasconi (19.18 per cent) and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu from the Social Democratic Party (19.15 per cent).
The annulment came after complaints from various institutions and the Romanian National Conservative Party’s candidate, Cristian Terhes, who garnered 95,782 votes in the first round, representing 1.04 per cent of the total.
On Monday, the CCR rejected a petition by Terhes seeking to annul the results of the first round of the 2024 presidential election held on November 24. However, the CCR’s Friday ruling mandates the government to set a new election date and timetable, restarting the electoral process entirely.
The new government of Romania will be formed following the validation of the parliamentary elections on December 1.
President Klaus Iohannis announced that he would remain in office until a new president is sworn in. He reiterated that he has no intention of becoming Romania’s prime minister.
Also on Friday, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) launched a criminal investigation into alleged cybercrimes involving the presidential campaign of Georgescu, based on declassified intelligence from Romania’s Supreme Council for National Defence.
Other candidates held different opinions about the annulment. Lasconi called it a blow to democracy and argued that the electoral process should have continued. She expressed her confidence in winning the runoff.
However, Ciolacu called the CCR’s decision “the only correct solution.” He emphasised the need for investigations to identify those responsible for the interference and reaffirmed Romania’s commitment to its pro-European development path.
Romania’s intelligence agencies reported that Georgescu’s TikTok campaign, funded with 1 million euros, was targeted by state-sponsored cyber actors amid heightened hybrid attacks against the country attributed to Russian interests. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also noted connections between Georgescu’s supporters and extremist, criminal, and pro-Russian groups.
Nevertheless, the DIICOT emphasised that the investigation remains in its preliminary stages, and no formal charges have been filed.
(IANS)
