The Constitutional Court of Romania annulled this Friday the first round of the presidential elections of November 24, which he won, after the declassification of documents that reveal “aggressive Russian hybrid attacks” in the campaign. The decision comes two days before the second round is scheduled to take place. The electoral process for the election of the president of Romania will therefore resume in its entirety and the Government will have to set a new date to go to the polls. Georgescu was to have faced center-right candidate Elena Lasconi. Candidates to occupy the head of state will have to register again and go through the validation process at the Central Electoral Office. The diaspora had already started voting this Wednesday for the second round.
”On the basis of article 146 letter f of the Constitution, the entire electoral process related to the election of the president of Romania is cancelled,” the court explained in a statement. This rule establishes that the Constitutional Court “will ensure compliance with the election procedure” of the head of state and will confirm the results of the vote. The highest judicial instance met to analyze the new appeals that asked to cancel the results of the first round of the presidential elections, after receiving an avalanche of requests between Thursday and Friday. The session was called by the president of the Constitutional Court, Marian Enache, when considering the possibility of the appearance of new elements related to the organization of the first round.
Declassified documents
The annulment of the elections comes after the secret services declassified documents that point to Russian interference in the elections. Specifically, he revealed that Romania had been the target of cyber attacks in favor of the eurosceptic candidate and that .
On Thursday, the court received four appeals from the publication Calea European, the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism of the Romanian Academy, the National School of Political and Administrative Studies of the University of Bucharest and the independent candidate Cristian Terhes. This Friday, other institutions also joined the request to cancel the first round.
The latest poll known after the revelations of Russian interference shows that its pro-European rival has a slight lead. According to the poll conducted by Intel Atlas, Lasconi leads with 48.6% support, while Georgescu has 46.4%. Another 3.1% indicated that they would cancel their vote and 1.9% did not know who they would vote for. Asked about a possible cancellation of the first round, Lasconi told Radio Romania Actualidad this Friday: “If the first elections were cancelled, a terrible state of tension would occur in society. Let the Romanians choose.”
Thousands of people, summoned by cultural personalities such as Ana Blandiana, Princess of Asturias 2024 winner, demonstrated on Thursday night under freezing temperatures with proclamations in favor of freedom and democracy and against fascism and Russia.
