Presidential election in Romania is in the balance

The Constitutional Court in Romania will discuss applications to annul the first round of the presidential election on Friday. The background is the surprising victory of the right-wing radical and Russia-friendly candidate Calin Georgescu. The country’s highest court had already ordered a recount of the votes on Thursday. It is unclear whether the Constitutional Court will reach a verdict on Friday.

Georgescu, who is independent of a party, won the first round of the presidential election on Sunday completely unexpectedly and landed in first place with 22.94 percent. The pro-Western head of government Marcel Ciolacu, who was aiming to succeed the German-born President Klaus Iohannis and was the favorite in the race, only came in third place with 19.15 percent of the vote.

The relatively little-known center-right politician Elena Lasconi came in second with 19.17 percent. Accordingly, Georgescu and Lasconi would compete against each other in a runoff election on December 8th.

Because of doubts about the proper conduct of the first round of elections, the presidential office called for “immediate measures” against the online network Tiktok. Georgescu primarily used this platform for his election campaign. The Supreme Court now unanimously ordered that the results of the first round be checked and all votes recounted. The European MP Cristian Terhes complained. He accused the center-right party of small town mayor Lasconi of continuing the election campaign on the Internet after a legal deadline had expired.

Georgescu caused a stir during the election campaign with ultra-right slogans and started a campaign on Tiktok in which he ultimately called for an end to aid for Ukraine. He also expressed skepticism about Romania’s NATO membership.

The presidential office has now stated that Georgescu benefited “massively” from his reach on Tiktok in the election, which further expanded the network, which is extremely popular in Romania, with “preferential treatment”. “Immediate measures” must therefore be taken against Tiktok before the second round of elections on December 8th.

Tiktok rejected allegations of election interference on Wednesday as “false and misleading”. The Romanian authorities asked the EU Commission to investigate Tiktok for violating the EU Digital Services Act.

According to the President’s Office, there were also “cyber attacks” in Romania that were intended to “influence” the proper conduct of the electoral process. Russia has noted “growing interest” in influencing public opinion in Romania given the “current security situation in the region.”

The EU and NATO country Romania is of great strategic importance, especially in view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine: Romania shares a 650 kilometer long border with Ukraine, and the Romanian Black Sea coast extends 150 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Odessa. 5,000 NATO soldiers are stationed in Romania.

Next Sunday, before the runoff election for the presidency, the eagerly awaited parliamentary election will take place in Romania. It is feared that both elections could lead to a change of course in Romania’s foreign policy, particularly with regard to Ukraine and Russia.