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Romania was plunged into turmoil after Călin Georgescu, a far-right ultranationalist, won the first round of the presidential election, only for allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference to emerge.
Thousands gathered in Bucharest on Sunday in protests organised by the far-right AUR party against Romania’s Constitutional Court’s decision last month to annul the presidential election.Some carried placards bearing slogans such as “Democracy is not optional” and “We want free elections.” The protest organisers demanded the resumption of the presidential race from the second round.The demonstration comes after the unprecedented move to annul the election just two days before the 8 December runoff. The far-right ultranationalist Călin Georgescu shocked many when he won the first round on 24 November, after which allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference emerged.George Simion, the leader of the AUR party, said at the protest on Sunday, “We are protesting against the coup d’état that took place on 6 December.”“We are sorry to discover so late that we were living in a lie and that we were led by people who claimed to be democrats, but are not at all,” he told reporters. “We demand a return to democracy through the resumption of elections, starting with the second round.”The cancelled presidential race last month plunged the European Union and NATO member state into turmoil.It came as Romanian lawmakers last month voted narrowly in favour of a new pro-European coalition government led by incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.He came third in the first-round presidential ballot despite polls indicating he would win the most votes. He has served as prime minister since June 2023.Simion also demanded the resignation of outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, whose presidency he considers illegitimate, after the court said he could stay in office until a new president is elected, even if his mandate has expired.New dates have been set to re-run the vote, with the first round scheduled for 4 May. If no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes, a runoff would be held two weeks later on 18 May. It is not yet clear whether Georgescu can participate in the new election.He has since challenged the court’s decision at a local appeals court and lodged a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights.The Constitutional Court’s published decision to annul the elections cited the illegal use of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources” of funding. Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.Many observers attributed Georgescu’s success to his TikTok account, which now has 7.2 million likes and 646,000 followers. Some experts suspected Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated, while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.On Friday, thousands attended another protest in Bucharest, also expressing anger over the cancelled presidential race.
