Romania’s top court has upheld a decision to ban presidential election frontrunner Călin Georgescu from standing in a rerun of the vote in May, sparking protest in Bucharest and leaving the country’s far-right parties four days to find a candidate.
Georgescu, an anti-EU, Moscow-friendly populist, surged from almost nowhere to win the first round of the country’s presidential election last year, but the result was annulled by Romania’s top court because of suspected Russian interference.
Amid claims of “massive” social media manipulation, he was placed under criminal investigation last month on six charges including false statements about his campaign financing, fraudulent use of digital technologies and promoting fascist organisations.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Romania’s central election bureau said on Sunday it had decided to bar Georgescu’s candidacy for the rerun of the first-round vote, due on 4 May, ruling it “unacceptable” that he should stand after the constitutional court’s annulment of the November vote.
After deliberating for two hours, the constitutional court rejected Georgescu’s appeal against that decision on Tuesday in a unanimous ruling that cannot be challenged. It would publish its reasoning at a later date, the court added.
Several hundred protesters gathered outside the courthouse waving Romanian flags and chanting “freedom” and “thieves”. Ana Florescu, 57, said Romania was “not a democracy any more … There is no justice. They have stolen it.”
Florescu, an economist, said the mainstream political parties that have run the country since the collapse of communism in 1989 had “made so many mistakes. No one trusts them any more. And now they have just cancelled a candidate.”
Gabriel Feraru, 63, an engineer, said the entire political class was “afraid of Georgescu because he is anti-system, and they will lose all their corrupt privileges”. He said he would boycott the rerun unless Georgescu endorsed a new far-right candidate.
The deadline for candidacies is 15 March, giving Romania’s far-right parties, including the Alliance for the Union of Romanians party (AUR) and the party of Young People (POT), which had united behind Georgescu’s run, little time to agree on a replacement.
The former government official told his supporters after the ruling to “follow your conscience” when casting their ballot. “Today, the masters have decided: no equality, no freedom, no fraternity for Romanians,” Georgescu posted on social media.
“Long live France and Brussels, long live their colony named Romania,” he added in English and French. “While America is becoming great again, Europe and Romania have become petty, corrupt, and under dictatorship.”
George Simion, chairman of the AUR and of the far-right bloc that holds about a third of seats in parliament, said the court’s decision was “a disgrace … Once again, it is mocking the Romanian people, is attacking our democracy and our essential rights.”
Many protesters said they would either boycott the new ballot or vote for an anti-establishment candidate. “I’ll vote for anyone new who isn’t a part of this system. People are fed up with these same politicians,” said Ionel Popa, a 52-year-old taxi driver.
The decisions to annul the elections and disqualify Georgescu have drawn sharp criticism from Washington. Billionaire Elon Musk posted on social media on Monday, asking: “How can a judge end democracy in Romania?”
The US vice-president, JD Vance, had previously said the annulment of the first-round vote showed Romania did not share American values. Georgescu, 62, was leading in the polls and was projected to win about 40% of votes in May.
Georgescu had been polling in single digits before the November election and had declared zero campaign spending. He has lauded Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as “a man who loves his country” and praised Romania’s 1930s fascist leaders.
He has also denied the existence of Covid-19, declared Jesus Christ to be “the only true science”, claimed Nato would never help Romania and said Bucharest was not very good at foreign affairs and should rely on “Russian wisdom”.
Moscow has denied any link with Georgescu but said on Tuesday any presidential election without him would be “illegitimate”. Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, described Romanian authorities’ decisions as a “violation of all democratic norms”.
