First round of Romanian election annulled over fears of interference by Russia

Romania's top court has annulled the first round of the country's presidential election, days after allegations that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who finished in pole position.

- STEPHEN MCGRATH

The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision – which is final – came after president Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleges Russia ran a sprawling campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram.

The intelligence files were from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The first round was won by Calin Georgescu, who previously praised Vladimir Putin, who is sceptical of Nato and wants to end Romania’s support for its neighbour Ukraine. He was polling in the single digits in October but surged to a surprise victory with just under 23 per cent of the first-round votes.

A date will now be set to rerun the first round. Mr Georgescu was due to face the reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a run-off tomorrow. Ms Lasconi condemned the court’s decision, saying it was “illegal, immoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy”.