Romania’s top court on Monday validated the first round of the presidential race, which saw a far-right outsider emerge as the frontrunner, following a recount of ballots that threw the country into turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference.
The Constitutional Court’s unanimous decision came after it had asked the Central Election Bureau to recount and verify all 9.4 million votes cast in the first round of the presidential election on November 24. The election bureau approved the request and began the recount process.
Monday’s decision is final.
Little-known far-right populist and independent candidate Calin Georgescu won the first round, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi, leader of the Save Romania Union party, in the second round on Sunday.
Lasconi beat Ciolacu by just 2,740 votes.
The recount was triggered by a complaint lodged by presidential candidate Cristian Teres, who had received 1% of the vote. Teres’ media office said the court ordered the recount “due to signs 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 Lasconi’s party had urged people to vote before some migrant polls closed, saying this violated electoral laws against campaign activities on polling day.
On Monday, the election bureau submitted the results of a partial recount to the court, which excluded hundreds of thousands of votes from Romania’s large migrant community.
Dominik Fritz, vice president of the Save Romania Union party led by Lasconi, said in a statement before the court’s ruling that more than 8 million votes had been recounted, and “no one has found any reason to question the final results.”
Many observers had warned that invalidating the vote could worsen the crisis that has gripped Romania’s political system after 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 by his past comments praising Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Many have attributed this to his rapid rise in popularity on the social media platform TikTok. According to a report by Bucharest-based think tank Expert Forum, Georgescu’s account exploded, which it said “appears to be sudden and artificial, similar to his voting results.”
Without naming Georgescu, the office of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said after a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense last Thursday that an analysis of documents showed that “the presidential candidate benefited from massive propaganda thanks to the 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 Encom, said he would request TikTok be suspended in Romania if the investigation found evidence of “manipulation of the electoral process.”
In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, TikTok said it was “false and misleading to attribute his campaign activity solely to TikTok,” and said Georgescu also used other social media platforms.
“We remain highly vigilant against actors who seek to use deceptive behavior to try to influence civic processes and work diligently to identify and dismantle covert influence operations,” the statement said.
Also, Romania held parliamentary elections on Sunday in which pro-Western parties won the most votes and will seek to form a coalition government. The ballot also saw a surge in support for far-right nationalists who gained a landslide lead in the country’s legislature.