Romania is falling even more in turmoil after one election official touted at a potential rerun of the first round of presidential elections after a shocking result that allegedly was engineered with foreign interference.
Last Sunday, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu came from single-digits vote predictions to more than 20% of the votes, winning the first round and setting himself up for a second round showdown with centrist candidate Elena Lasconi. However, doubts amassed on the result and on Thursday the Romanian Constitutional Court unanimously called for a recount of votes. The Court received even a request by one of the defeated candidates to straight up annul last week’s vote.
Authorities admitted that they found evidence of foreign interference in the vote, without disclosing too many details. Critics pointed at TikTok and its role, with regulators contemplating a potential temporary ban of the social media. The app is accused of favouritism towards Georgescu. Romania’s Supreme Defence Council said that “a presidential candidate benefited from massive exposure through preferential treatment given to him by the TikTok platform by not labelling him as a political candidate and not asking him to label electoral content.” TikTok denied any favouritism towards one candidate.
Electoral Commission Chief Toni Grebla told Radio Romania Actualitati that he hopes the court could validate the votes as soon as possible, adding that a potential rerun of the election could take place in December 15, with a second round on December 29.
The recount was instigated by conservative presidential candidate Cristian Terhes, who got only 1% at the first round. He alleged that Lasconi’s got votes from another candidate that had withdrawn but whose name was still on the ballots. Lasconi on her part condemned the involved of the Constitutional Court, saying that “is interfering in the democratic process for the second time,” after previously forbidding a far-right candidate to run.
To add to the turmoil, next Sunday Romania is set to hold its parliamentary elections. The far-right party Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) could be the main gainer of this vote. An AtlasIntel poll obtained by the HotNews website projected the party to win 22.4% of the votes, slightly ahead of the Social Democrats (PSD), the party of current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. He arrived third in the presidential elections, only 3,000 votes behind Lasconi.
