Independent far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has slammed Romania’s top court after they decided on Friday to annul the results of the first round of the presidential vote and cancelled Sunday’s runoff citing Russian interference.
In a recorded clip aired on Romanian broadcaster Realitatea TV Georgescu accused the Constitutional Court (CCR) of subverting democracy.
“Dear friends, we are in the Christmas fast and today is St. Nicholas Day. On this day the Romanian state has taken democracy and trampled it under foot. Today’s CCR ruling is more than a legal controversy. It is basically a formalised coup d’état,” said Georgescu who won the first round of the presidential race on 24 November.
He continued saying “The rule of law is in an induced coma and justice, subordinated to political orders, has practically lost its essence, it is no longer justice, it is at the behest. In such a state we are no longer talking about justice, we are practically talking about a simulacrum that betrays the principles of democracy.”
Reformist candidate Elena Lasconi labels CCR ruling as ‘illegal’
Georgescu’s challenger in the now cancelled runoff vote originally set for 8 December has echoed similar remarks as she reacted to the news.
In a video sent to Romanian media outlets, Lasconi said “Today is the moment when the Romanian state has trampled on democracy! God, the Romanian people, the truth and the law will prevail and find those guilty of destroying our democracy.”
“I strongly condemn what happened today! I think they destroyed everything we’ve worked hard to achieve in the last 35 years! Today they destroyed 35 years of hard work,” said Lasconi referring to the 1989 revolution which brought an end to communist rule in Romania.
Incumbent President Klaus Iohannis to remain in office until replacement is elected
Outgoing President Klaus Iohannis says he will stay in office until his successor is appointed and has called on Romanians to respect the court’s ruling.
Just hours after the ruling was made public, sending shockwaves through Romanian society, Iohannis explained that the decision came after serious consideration was given to potential foreign meddling in the surprise victory by the previously unknown far-right nationalist candidate, Călin Georgescu.
“Following the elections, I started receiving notes from intelligence services about some strange things,” Iohannis said.
“I received the reports, and I was very worried about what I read, so I convened the Romanian National Security Council,” he explained. “The conclusions were grave.”
According to the Romanian president, it became apparent that Georgescu benefitted from what Iohannis labelled “massive illegal election support” despite declaring “zero spending on his election campaign even if he conducted a sophisticated one.”
“I received information from services that this candidate was illegally supported by a foreign country, which constitutes a national security matter,” he said.
Mixed reception of the decision among Romania’s political class
The centre-left Social Democratic party’s candidate in the first round and Prime Minister-incumbent Marcel Ciolacu hailed the Bucharest court’s decision as the right thing to do.
“The CCR’s decision to cancel the presidential elections is the only correct solution after the declassification of documents from the CSAT meeting, which show that the result of the Romanian vote was flagrantly distorted following Russian intervention,” Ciolacu said.
“The authorities’ investigations must show who is to blame for the attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential election massively,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENTOn the other hand, far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians leader George Simion labelled the court’s decision a “coup d’état in full swing” but rejected the idea of protests at this time.
“We don’t go out into the streets, we don’t let ourselves be provoked, this system must fall democratically,” Simion wrote on Facebook.
An election marred with controversy
Georgescu has been subject to controversy since he surprisingly topped the ballot almost two weeks ago.
The first round of voting has already faced scrutiny from the court, with two candidates who lost the round filing complaints regarding the lack of transparency of campaign funding and voter deception.
ADVERTISEMENTOn Wednesday, bombshell declassified information from Romania’s intelligence agencies revealed that Georgescu’s win was “not a natural outcome” and that a coordinated social media campaign by a “state actor” artificially propped up his victory.
Georgescu ran a successful campaign on the social media platform TikTok. His popularity exploded in the weeks before the vote, with the candidate gaining tens of millions of views days before the first round.
The documents showed a pre-organised sleeper network suddenly became active on the app two weeks before the election.
Romanian intelligence concluded that the network used methods typical of a state actor in recruiting and coordinating with others through the messaging platform Telegram.
ADVERTISEMENTThe documents also found that almost €1 million was spent during the campaign by an individual who supported Georgescu’s candidacy, with up to €950 paid for a repost on the app.
Georgescu claimed he had no campaign budget and was helped through volunteers.
On Thursday, the European Commission sent TikTok an “urgent” request for information about the platform’s role in the elections.
“We are concerned about mounting indications of coordinated foreign online influence operation targeting ongoing Romanian elections, especially on TikTok,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commisison’s executive vice-president in charge of digital policy.
ADVERTISEMENTTikTok has not responded to Euronews’ requests for comment.