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Romania’s Constitutional Court canceled the decisive round of the country’s presidential election scheduled for Sunday after allegations that Russia used TikTok to promote the leading candidate.
The decision to cancel the second round and nullify the victory in the first stage Calin Georgescuwho praised Vladimir Putin, came after Romanian authorities this week released documents showing Moscow sought to undermine the vote.
However, some politicians and analysts criticized the move as anti-democratic. Opinion polls gave the far-right Georgesco a comfortable lead over Elena Lasconi, the second-placed liberal presidential candidate, ahead of the now-cancelled vote.
“The electoral process for the election of the President of Romania will be repeated in its entirety,” the court said on Friday.
The judges claimed that the election process was “entirely flawed” with multiple “irregularities and violations of the electoral law” that “distorted” the vote and its democratic principles.
The date of the new elections will be determined by the Romanian government, but only after a new coalition is formed following last Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Costin Ciobanu, an analyst at Aarhus University in Denmark, said the annulment “deepens uncertainty and polarization within Romanian society, raising serious concerns about the strength of Romanian institutions and democracy”.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Bucharest and other cities in recent days to protest against Georgescu, while several hundred have held protests in support of him.
In a recorded statement on Friday, Georgescu said he would challenge the decision before the country’s supreme court, the High Court of Cassation and the judiciary. He said it was “unrealistic” that nine constitutional judges could overturn the votes of millions of Romanians.
“The Romanian state took democracy and trampled on it,” he said, adding that the court’s decision was “more than a legal controversy.”
“It’s practically a coup,” he said. Promising to fight on, he said his only “pact” was with the Romanian people and God.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sought to reassure investors and Western allies in a televised address Friday night, promising to stay in office until his successor is sworn in. “Romania is a stable and safe country,” he said.
Friday’s ruling is the first time a Western court has intervened to nullify an election over an alleged Russian attempt to influence the results. But it comes after a series of attempts by Moscow to sway votes in countries far outside its traditional sphere of influence.
Maia Sandu, president of neighboring Moldova, narrower ensured re-election llast month after what state officials said was an attempt to buy votes by politicians sympathetic to Moscow.
The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is also warned in which Russia could try to interfere parliamentary elections in their country next year.
Georgescu’s rise in recent weeks has been astonishing Romania and its western allies.
He won in the first round even though he had no party behind him and claimed to have spent “zero” on his campaign, which was mostly conducted on social networks.
Romanian National Security Council he declassified several documents on Wednesday alleging that Russia tried to promote Georgescu on social media platforms and hack the country’s election infrastructure.
The documents also said the far-right candidate, who was in single digits before last month’s vote, “benefited from preferential treatment” on TikTok because the Chinese social media platform did not flag his videos as political ads.
More than 100 paid influencers with more than 8 million followers promoted Georgescu’s videos, according to the documents. TikTok announced earlier this week that it had been taken down “cluster” of pro-Georgescu accounts.
Romanian authorities have asked the European Commission to open an investigation into TikTok, which could result in fines. The company, which is owned by ByteDance, denied the allegations and said it acted in accordance with Romanian and EU laws.
The court’s decision to annul the vote comes despite Monday’s recount confirming Georgescu’s victory in the first round, in which he won 23 percent of the vote.
Friday’s verdict was hailed as “the only correct decision” by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was leading in the polls before the first round. “The vote in Romania was clearly undermined after Russian intervention,” he said.
But Lasconi, who had expected to face Georgescu in a runoff scheduled for Sunday, labeled the court’s decision “illegal, immoral,” adding that the verdict “destroys the essence of democracy — voting.”
She promised to run again and win the presidency.
Prosecutors launched multiple investigations following evidence presented by intelligence services.
The US State Department also warned this week of “foreign actors seeking to move Romania’s foreign policy away from Western alliances”, which it said would have “serious negative impacts on US security cooperation”.
