Romanian constitutional court validates first round of presidential race after vote recount

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — After a ballot recount, a top Romanian court on Monday validated the first round of a presidential race in which a far-right outsider emerged as the frontrunner, plunging the country into turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling.

The Constitutional Court’s unanimous decision came after it had asked the Central Election Bureau to recount and verify all 9.4 million ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election on Nov. 24. The election bureau approved the request and proceeded with the recount.

Monday’s decision is final.

Calin Georgescu, a little-known far-right populist and independent candidate, narrowly won the first round, beating the incumbent prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi, the leader of the Save Romania Union party, in a runoff on Sunday.

Lasconi beat Ciolacu by just 2,740 votes.

The recount was prompted by a complaint lodged by Cristian Terhes, a presidential candidate who garnered 1% of the ballot. Terhes’ media office said the court ordered the recount “due to indications of fraud,” alleging that valid votes cast for Ludovic Orban — who had dropped out of the race but remained on the ballot — were reassigned to Lasconi.

He also claimed that Lasconi’s party had urged people to vote before some diaspora polls had closed, saying it violated electoral laws against campaign activities on polling day.

On Monday, the election bureau submitted partial recount results to the court, which did not include hundreds of thousands of the votes from Romania’s large diaspora.

Dominic Fritz, the vice president of Save Romania Union party led by Lasconi, said in a statement before that court’s decision that more than 8 million votes had been recounted, and that “no one has found any reason to question the final results.”

Many observers had warned that invalidating the vote could further fuel the crisis that gripped Romania’s political establishment in the wake of the first round.

Georgescu’s unexpected success prompted a series of protests by people who claim he is a threat to democracy and who are concerned with previous remarks he made in praising Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Many have attributed to his rapid rise in popularity on the social media platform TikTok.

According to a report by Expert Forum, a Bucharest-based think tank, Georgescu’s account had an explosion, which it said “appears sudden and artificial, similar to his polling results.”

Without naming Georgescu, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis’ office said after a Supreme Council of National Defense meeting last Thursday that an analysis of documents revealed that “a presidential candidate benefited from massive exposure due to preferential treatment granted by the TikTok platform.”

Romania’s National Audiovisual Council asked the European Commission to investigate TikTok’s role in the Nov. 24 vote. Pavel Popescu, the vice president of Romania’s media regulator Ancom, said he would request TikTok’s suspension in Romania if investigations find evidence of “manipulation of the electoral process.”

In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, TikTok said it was “inaccurate and misleading to ascribe his campaign activity solely to TikTok,” and noted that Georgescu also used other social media platforms.

“We are highly vigilant against actors who seek to use deceptive behaviors to try to affect civic processes and work diligently to identify and remove covert influence operations,” the statement said.

Separately, Romania held a parliamentary election on Sunday in which pro-Western parties won the most votes and will look to form a coalition government. The ballot also saw a surge of support for far-right nationalists who made huge gains in the country’s legislature.