Extremist candidate: Court: Presidential election in Romania must be repeated

The presidential election in Romania must be repeated. The country’s Constitutional Court decided this following controversy surrounding the right-wing extremist and pro-Kremlin candidate Calin Georgescu, who came first in the first round of voting. In addition, all candidacies must be re-examined. The court wants to provide reasons later.

It is not yet clear when a new election will take place. This must be decided by the new government, which is to be formed after the parliamentary elections on December 1st, said President Klaus Iohannis. His term would normally end on December 21st. In the new situation, Iohannis continued, he will remain in office until his successor is elected. It is unclear when the new government will be formed.

Georgescu described the court decision as a “coup.” His team announced legal action. His previous opponent, the Western-oriented politician Elena Lasconi, also sharply criticized the Constitutional Court’s decision.

The public prosecutor’s office had started an investigation

A day earlier, Georgescu, who was victorious in the round of elections that has now been declared invalid, was targeted by the judiciary because of his election campaign on the online platform Tiktok. According to its own information, the highest public prosecutor’s office has started an investigation into this. It refers to information from the Romanian secret services and other security organs, which had also been made public the day before. Romania’s foreign intelligence service SIE assumes that manipulations controlled by Russia contributed to Georgescu’s success.

Georgescu, completely unexpectedly, received the most votes in the first round of the presidential election on November 24th. The conservative-liberal politician Elena Lasconi came in second. There should be a runoff election between the two candidates on Sunday. This is not happening now.

The prosecutor’s investigation is aimed at whether Georgescu’s Tiktok campaign influenced voters using methods prohibited by Romania’s electoral law. It should also be determined whether money laundering occurred. Georgescu had previously told the electoral authority that he had spent “zero” financial resources on his extremely intensive campaign on Tiktok.

Georgescu cannot be stopped and wants to go to court

Georgescu expressed his determination to continue his fight. However, he did not explicitly say whether he wanted to run for president again. “Victory belongs to God, and we are but the means by which his will is accomplished,” he said in a video address posted on Facebook. The court decision proves that in Romania “the constitutional state is in an artificial coma” and democracy has been attacked. “It is time to show that we are a courageous people,” he continued.

Georgescu’s team also announced legal action. It is not a matter of suing the Constitutional Court because this is not formally legally possible. Rather, Georgescu wants to bring charges against the electoral authority and the central electoral office subordinate to it. These two institutions were not obliged to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision, Georgescu’s team explained on its Facebook page. Independent lawyers initially did not comment on this interpretation of the legal situation.

Criticism and praise for the court’s decision

The previous candidate Lasconi strongly condemned the court’s decision: “Today is the moment in which the Romanian state has trampled on democracy,” she said. Before the decision, Lasconi had stressed that it was important for Romania’s democracy that Georgescu was defeated in a regular election and not through court decisions.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) welcomed the court decision: It was the “only correct” decision after the security organs published documents proving that Russia had manipulated the election.

The repetition of the entire election process also means that the candidates must be confirmed again by the Constitutional Court before they can run. This can take several weeks.

Communication from the Constitutional Court, Romanian