On Friday, Romania’s Constitutional Court made a surprising decision: the results of the first round of the presidential elections were annulled and a new election date will be set. This judgment is final and generally binding.
The Court stated that ”The electoral process for the election of the President of Romania will be resumed in its entirety, the Government will set a new date for the election of the President and a new timetable for the necessary actions”.
Two days earlier, President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence alleging that Moscow ran an extensive social media campaign for the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu.
Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election with over 2,1 million votes, a whopping 23% of total cast votes. He flew under the mainstream media’s radar, did not hold any public gatherings, and went all in on TikTok using nationalist or ultra-religious slogans despite claiming zero campaign spending.
In the second round of presidential elections, Călin Georgescu was due to face pro-European Elena Lasconi, a Save Romania Alliance (USR) candidate who unexpectedly surpassed PSD candidate and Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
