ROMANIA: Court annuls result of first round of presidential election. That first round was unexpectedly won by a far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu, a NATO skeptic who praises Putin. (Sound familiar?)
Amazingly, Georgescu, who is almost unknown, claims he spent "almost nothing" on his presidential campaign.
ROMANIA: Court annuls result of first round of presidential election. That first round was unexpectedly won by a far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu, a NATO skeptic who praises Putin. (Sound familiar?)
Amazingly, Georgescu, who is almost unknown, claims he spent "almost nothing" on his presidential campaign.
The court referred to Romanian intelligence reports that Georgescu benefited from a massive influence operation conducted from abroad (Russia), which was designed to interfere with the result of the vote.
Outcome-oriented I’m very ok with this, but this seems to play into the hands of anti-establishment populists as a matter of process and I can see such a scenario ripe for abuse in a future case where nastier figures have come ahead in Romania’s pretty young and long uneven democracy
Interestingly, vehement attacks on the court have been voiced by the Romanian candidate who took second place in round #1. Why? Runner-up Elena Lasconi was confident that she would beat Georgescu in round #2, which of course won’t be happening as scheduled.
(With an election re-do, the governing party’s candidate, Marcel Ciolacu of the governing Social Democrats who placed third, will have another shot at the presidency.)
"Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, nine million Romanian citizens, both in the country and in the diaspora, have expressed their preference for a certain candidate. We cannot ignore their will!"
– Elena Lasconi, Save Romania Union (an opposition party)
ROMANIA: Court annuls result of first round of presidential election. That first round was unexpectedly won by a far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu, a NATO skeptic who praises Putin. (Sound familiar?)
Amazingly, Georgescu, who is almost unknown, claims he spent "almost nothing" on his presidential campaign.
The court referred to Romanian intelligence reports that Georgescu benefited from a massive influence operation conducted from abroad (Russia), which was designed to interfere with the result of the vote.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/06/romanian-court-annuls-first-round-of-presidential-election
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4x2epppego
Hmm.
Outcome-oriented I’m very ok with this, but this seems to play into the hands of anti-establishment populists as a matter of process and I can see such a scenario ripe for abuse in a future case where nastier figures have come ahead in Romania’s pretty young and long uneven democracy
Interestingly, vehement attacks on the court have been voiced by the Romanian candidate who took second place in round #1. Why? Runner-up Elena Lasconi was confident that she would beat Georgescu in round #2, which of course won’t be happening as scheduled.
(With an election re-do, the governing party’s candidate, Marcel Ciolacu of the governing Social Democrats who placed third, will have another shot at the presidency.)
"Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, nine million Romanian citizens, both in the country and in the diaspora, have expressed their preference for a certain candidate. We cannot ignore their will!"
– Elena Lasconi, Save Romania Union (an opposition party)