ROMANIA
The "wrong" candidate won - now the presidential election in Romania is redone

The first round of the presidential election in Romania is declared invalid. This is announced by the country's Constitutional Court in a press release. The reason is that the winner of the election, Călin Georgescu, who has been accused of being far-right and fascist, allegedly received an unfair amount of support in social media.

During Friday morning, Romanians living abroad go to the polls to vote in the second round of Romania's presidential election, which is scheduled to be held this Sunday. They have two options to choose from:

One candidate is Elena Lasconi, party leader of the Union Save Romania. A liberal party which in the EU Parliament is part of the same party group as the Swedish Liberals and the Center Party.

The other candidate is Călin Georgescu. Georgescu is an independent candidate with a background as a UN diplomat, where he worked as a special rapporteur. He is also a strong critic of both the US and NATO, and he promises voters to end military aid to Ukraine if he is elected.


Calin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi. Photo: Facebook
Court announces new elections
On November 24, Călin Georgescu surprisingly won the first round of the presidential election when he received just under 23 percent of the vote. Elena Lasconi has come in second place with just over 19 percent. That is why the two advanced to the second round of elections.

READ ALSO: EU and NATO critics lead the Romanian presidential election

More than 30,000 Romanians have time to vote early in the second round of elections on Friday before the Constitutional Court in Bucharest suddenly announces that the first round of elections has been declared invalid. The second round of elections is thus stopped immediately.

The court writes in a press release that it "annuls the entire electoral process regarding the election of the President of Romania", and refers to "justice and legal certainty in the electoral process".

The decision of the Constitutional Court is final, and the Romanian presidential election must now therefore be redone from the beginning.