The Romanian Supreme Court declared the results of the country’s presidential election invalid on Friday (December 6th) after warnings from the security department of large-scale Russian-style influence operations manipulating the election. The Court stated in a release that the Romanian government now needs to establish a new election timetable, stating that the presidential election in Romania will start afresh, and the government will set new dates and schedules for the necessary steps.
Pro-Russian independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the Romanian presidential election on November 24th. However, according to decrypted Romanian intelligence documents, Georgescu gained extensive publicity on the social media platform TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms, and paid promotions. Georgescu himself claimed that he did not invest any money in the campaign.
The second round of voting, scheduled for Sunday (December 8th), has been canceled according to the Supreme Court’s announcement. An unexpected ruling like this, as reported by Politico, may cause instability in Romania. Romania, an important NATO member with a population of 19 million, is located on the eastern edge of the European Union.
The Supreme Court’s decision is based on the exposure of foreign interference in the elections. Earlier this week, the Romanian government declassified intelligence documents strongly suggesting the existence of election interference activities supported by Russia.
The primary task of the next president was originally to appoint a new prime minister, but it may now take several weeks or even months to determine a long-term government due to the current situation. It is currently unclear who will temporarily assume the presidency until this turmoil is resolved.