A Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election after Russia allegedly ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.
The “momentous” move from Romania‘s constitutional court “effectively voids the national election”, which will now have to be rerun, said The Guardian.
Romanians had been due to go to the polls again on Sunday in a second-round run-off vote to decide their next president. The choice was between independent far-right candidate Călin Georgescu and the pro-Western centrist Elena Lasconi. The two candidates were running neck and neck in the polls.
The court’s decision has thrown the country into turmoil. Romanians may now have to wait months before they can vote again, while some question if the election process can be trusted at all.
What’s happened?
On Wednesday, Romania’s outgoing president Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence documents from the Supreme Council for National Defence. They suggested that almost 800 TikTok accounts created by a “foreign state” in 2016 suddenly became active last month to back Georgescu, said the BBC. Another 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts began posting only two weeks before the first round vote, said Politico.
Romania’s intelligence services said Georgescu’s surge in popularity, coming from almost total obscurity before the vote, was due to a “‘highly organised’ and ‘guerilla’ social media campaign”, including the use of identical messaging across pro-Georgescu accounts.
The files also allege that Georgescu had illegally benefited from extensive electoral promotion during periods when campaigning was prohibited, and that his campaign had received foreign financial support – despite Georgescu consistently claiming he had spent “zero” on campaigning.
What did the court say?
Judges from the constitutional court met on Friday to consider a large number of requests to annul the first round in light of the intelligence reports.
In a single-page judgment, the court said it had unanimously decided to annul the vote and that the government must establish a new date for a rerun of the contest. It is a significant decision from a court that just days before had validated the first round of voting, following a recount of all 9.4 million votes cast.
What has the reaction been?
Georgescu has claimed he is a victim of a plot by the political elite to keep him out of power and thwart the will of the people. Less predictably, his opponent has also denounced the court’s decision, saying democracy was being “trampled” by the state. “We should have gone ahead with the vote,” Lasconi said. “We should have respected the will of the Romanian people, whether we like it or not.”
Meanwhile, Romanians who have been “unenthusiastic about both candidates are unsure whether to be glad they do not have to decide on Sunday or concerned for the future of Romanian democracy”, said the BBC.
What does it mean for democracy in Europe?
Similar allegations have been made over Moldova’s EU referendum and presidential elections, and Georgia’s recent contentious parliamentary election, but Romania is now “the first democracy to cancel an election over alleged Russian interference”, said the Financial Times. Russia has denied involvement in Romanian or any other elections.
What next?
The vote will now have to be rerun, which is likely to be in three or four months’ time. President Iohannis will remain in post until his successor is elected.
Georgescu said he will file a complaint with Romania’s Supreme Court, although there is no clear legal route to overturning the decision of the constitutional court, which is final and binding. Georgescu himself could also face criminal proceedings as a result of the allegations detailed in the unclassified documents.
Criminal investigators have also launched an inquiry into the cyberattacks on election infrastructure, which were detailed in the declassified intelligence files, said Politico. It is the third such investigation into the election process after two others were launched looking at voter corruption, computer system fraud and campaign money-laundering.