Romania’s Supreme Court has annulled the result of the first round of the country’s presidential elections, adding that the entire electoral process will have to be repeated.
The second round was supposed to take place on Sunday and voting is already underway in polling stations abroad.
It would have pitted the nationalist independent Calin Georgescu-Roegen against the pro-European Union reformist conservative Elena Lasconi.
After earning a single-digit score before the first round of the November 24 presidential election, Georgescu-Roegen – who wants to end Romanian military support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion – jumped to first place, raising questions about how such a surprise was possible.
A Georgescu-Roegen victory would upend the politics of EU and NATO member states, pushing them closer to a belt of Central and Eastern European states with powerful populist and pro-Russian politicians, including Hungary, Slovakia and Austria .
However, Friday’s ruling has thrown the country into institutional chaos as current president Klaus Iohannis’ term expires on December 21 and it is unclear who will be the head of state after that date.
Documents declassified on Wednesday by Romania’s top security council say the country was the target of “Russian hybrid aggressive attacks” during the election period.
“The electoral process to elect the president of Romania will be completely repeated and the government will set a new date and… a timetable for the necessary steps,” the court said in a statement.
The ruling was issued, he added, “seeking to ensure the fairness and legality of the electoral process”.
A detailed explanation of his sentence will be released at a later date.
On Monday the court had validated the first presidential round.
Declassified documents suggest Russian meddling
Georgescu-Roegen said on Friday that the court’s ruling was a “coup,” according to a written statement given to broadcaster Realitatea TV.
Lasconi also condemned the sentence and stated that the vote should have continued in accordance with the will of the Romanian people.
“The Constitutional Court’s decision is illegal, amoral and destroys the very essence of democracy, of voting,” he said.
“We should have gone ahead with the vote. We should have respected the will of the Romanian people. Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, nine million Romanian citizens, both in the country and in the diaspora, have expressed their preference for a particular candidate through their votes. We cannot ignore their will!”. he said.
“I know I would have won. And I will win because the Romanian people know that I will fight for them, that I will unite them for a better Romania. I will defend our democracy. I will not give up.”
Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu supported the move, calling it “the only correct solution” after declassified documents highlighted Russian meddling.
In one of the declassified documents, the Romanian intelligence agency said that Georgescu-Roegen was massively promoted on the social media platform TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion.
Georgescu-Roegen declared zero funds spent on the campaign.
Russia has denied any interference in Romania’s election campaigns.
TikTok denies giving Georgescu-Roegen special treatment, saying her account was labeled a political account and treated like any other.
It was not yet clear whether Georgescu-Roegen would be allowed to take part in the re-election.