A top Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.
The momentous move by the court effectively voids the national election, which will have to be re-run.
The constitutional court’s decision – which is final – came on Friday after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence two days earlier that alleged Moscow ran a sprawling drive comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram.
Despite being an unknown who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner on 24 November, a shock result in the EU and Nato member state bordering Ukraine. He was due to face the pro-European reformist Elena Lasconi, of the Save Romania Union party, in a runoff on Sunday.
Romania was to have held its presidential runoff on Sunday with Georgescu seen as having a significant chance of beating his centrist rival and thus shifting the balance of power in the region. The ballot has now been cancelled with voting already under way in polling stations abroad.
“The electoral process to elect Romania’s president will be fully re-run, and the government will set a new date and … calendar for the necessary steps,” the court said in a statement.
The outgoing prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, welcomed the court’s decision in a post on Facebook. It was, he said “the only correct solution after the declassification of the documents … which show that the result of the Romanians’ vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia’s intervention”.
However, Lasconi, the pro-European candidate, condemned the ruling. “The constitutional court’s decision is illegal, amoral and crushes the very essence of democracy, voting,” she said.
Georgescu called the ruling an “official coup”. “They will not be able to stop me. And they cannot stop the Romanian people from what they want to change,” he told local media.
The European Commission said on Thursday that it had stepped up its monitoring of TikTok in the context of Romania’s elections.
Georgescu, who calls for ending Romanian support for Ukraine to fend off Russia’s invasion, had polled in the single digits before the first round last month. His astonishing victory raised fundamental questions about how the democratic system of a country embedded in western institutions could produce such a surprise.
Documents declassified by Romania’s top security council on Wednesday indicated the country was a target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period.
Far-right parties also performed well in last Sunday’s parliamentary election in Romania, though the ruling Social Democrats emerged as the largest grouping and hope to form a pro-EU coalition government.
The court has not called into question the integrity of the parliamentary vote.
Late on Thursday, thousands of demonstrators had massed in the capital, Bucharest, in support of democracy ahead of the now-cancelled presidential runoff.
Romanian musicians, film directors, actors and civic activists voiced their support for Lasconi at a rally in freezing temperatures, urging voters not to isolate the country from its allies and partners. An estimated 3,000 people chanted “Europe!” and “No Fascism”, carrying banners that said “Democracy is in danger” and “Our children will be free”.
A win by Georgescu, an admirer of Putin and Donald Trump, would pull Romania from its traditional place in the pro-western fold and push it into the group of central and eastern European states including Hungary, Slovakia and Austria with powerful far-right, Russia-friendly politicians.
An opinion poll by AtlasIntel, conducted on 4-5 December and quoted by the news website hotnews.ro, showed Lasconi narrowly ahead of Georgescu by 48.6% to 46.4%, one day after the documents on alleged Russian interference were declassified.
The evidence revealed that Georgescu was massively promoted on TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion.
“Reports by Romanian authorities that Russian disinformation is influencing the presidential elections in Romania show: (Russian President Vladimir) Putin wants to divide us and to undermine the unity within the EU and Nato” Germany’s foreign ministry posted on X.
Russia has denied interfering and TikTok said it did not give Georgescu preferential treatment.
Romanian prosecutors said on Thursday they had opened a criminal investigation against Georgescu on suspicion of money-laundering.
While the president’s post is largely ceremonial, the head-of-state has moral authority and influence on Romania’s foreign policy.
The president also designates the next prime minister – a key role especially since legislative elections last weekend returned a fragmented parliament.
Since the fall of communism in 1989, Romania has never seen such a strong showing by the far right, fuelled by mounting anger over high inflation and fears over the Ukraine war.
