Romanian Election Cancelled Amid Russia-TikTok Scandal

Romania’s constitutional court has cancelled the deciding round of the country’s presidential election scheduled for Sunday after allegations that Russia used TikTok to promote the leading candidate.

The decision to scrap the run-off and annul the first-stage victory of Călin Georgescu, who has praised Vladimir Putin, came after Romanian authorities published documents this week indicating that Moscow had sought to undermine the vote.

But the move was criticised by some politicians and analysts as anti-democratic.

Opinion polls had given the far-right Georgescu 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 argued that the election process was “flawed throughout” by multiple “irregularities and breaches of electoral law” which “distorted” the vote and its democratic principles.

The date of the new vote will be set by Romania’s government, but only after a new coalition is formed following parliamentary elections last Sunday.

Costin Ciobanu, an analyst at Aarhus University in Denmark, said the annulment “deepens uncertainty and polarisation within Romanian society, raising serious concerns about the strength of Romania’s institutions and democracy”.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Bucharest and other cities to protest against Geor…  gescu in recent days, while a few hundred have held demonstrations backing him.

In a recorded statement on Friday, Georgescu said he would challenge the decision at the country’s supreme court, the High Court of Cassation and Justice. He declared it was “unreal” 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 is, practically, a coup d’état,” he said. Pledging to fight on, he said his only “pact” was with the Romanian people and god.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sought in a televised address on Friday evening to reassure investors and western allies, promising to stay in office until a successor is sworn in.

“Romania is a stable and secure country,” he said.