The Constitutional Court of Romania has annulled the results of the first round of the presidential elections, citing interference from Russia. As a result, the entire electoral process will have to be conducted again, including the re-registration of candidates and the re-approval of their applications by the Central Electoral Bureau, as repotred by G4 Media.
The court's unanimous decision was announced on December 6. The judge emphasized that according to the country's Constitution, the annulment applies to the entire electoral process, meaning the elections will start from scratch.
The decision to annul the results was based on declassified intelligence materials published by Romania's Supreme Council for National Defense. These documents point to aggressive hybrid attacks from Russia aimed at interfering in the elections. In the first round, held on November 24, the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu led with 22.94% of the vote. His platform included rejecting support for Ukraine in the war with Russia and opposing Romania's membership in NATO.
The pro-Western candidate Elena Lasconi, who came in second with 19.18%, was his main opponent. The second round of elections, scheduled for December 8, had already begun at overseas polling stations.
The government will now have to set a new date for the rerun of the elections.
