Romanian Court Annuls Vote, Declares Presidential Election Do-Over, After 'Far Right, Pro Russian' Candidate On Top

Something unprecedented just happened in the NATO and EU member country of Romania - a top court on Friday annulled the first round of the country's presidential election. Essentially there will now be a 'do over' election.

The Constitutional Court made the decision even as voting is still underway in the diaspora. "The electoral process for the election of the President of Romania will be resumed in its entirety, with the Government required to set a new date for the election of the President of Romania as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions," the court said in a statement.

The court decided "to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania… to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process" - in a controversial ruling which has simply never happened.

Calin Georgescu, the widely dubbed 'far-right' contender, came out on top in a first round of voting in a 'shock' outcome which left political opponents claiming Russian election interference.

Apparently the 'smoking gun' is related to mere social media posts on platforms like TikTok. "The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia ran a sprawling campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram," The Associated Press details.

Georgescu emerged top of the ballot after the Nov.24 first round vote, despite declaring no campaign spending, and was set to enter a run-off originally scheduled for Sunday against reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party.

Contributing to the dossier examined by the court on the alleged Russian election interference included the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, AP has noted further.

Georgescu's nationalist rhetoric has proven ultra popular as social media videos featuring him have racked up millions of views. But at least much of this would likely be genuine and organic, given that the vast majority of the population leans ultra-conservative.

Also Romania has one of the highest church attendance rates in Europe, with the dominant religion being the very traditional Romanian Orthodox Church, which is also in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russia on Friday vehemently denied that it is interfering in Romania's election. This as Western media is already labelling Georgescu as "pro-Russian". Similar controversy has lately engulfed politics in Georgia as well, where pro-EU street protests have continued.

"The campaign for the Romanian presidential election... is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of anti-Russian hysteria," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the press in response to the reports. "More and more absurd accusations are being made by local politicians, officials and media representatives...," she said. "We firmly reject all hostile attacks, which we consider absolutely groundless."

The European Commission at the same time says it's closely monitoring the TikTok platform related to Romania's election. NATO and Washington are also watching closely, given a Georgescu victory could have huge implications for the future of Western military bases and units inside Romania, on NATO's so-called Eastern flank:

Romania is a serious military power, which is why the risk that NATO-skeptic, pro-Russia candidate Călin Georgescu will become its president next Sunday is confounding the alliance.

The country of 19 million has been a NATO member for two decades, and is the site of an airbase that is expanding to be the bloc's biggest in Europe. It borders Ukraine; stares across the Black Sea at Russia-occupied Crimea; has sent arms and ammunition to Kyiv; and hosts a U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Deveselu, in southern Romania, where both Romanian and U.S. forces are based.

But those international ties are deplored by Georgescu, who has condemned the Deveselu missiles as a national “shame,” campaigned for ending Romanian aid to Ukraine, and called for “Russian wisdom” in shaping foreign policy.

His rhetoric is similar to Hungary's Viktor Orban or Italy's Meloni...

But depending on how convincing the alleged evidence in possession of Romanian intelligence is, this is more likely just another example of European officials screaming 'Russian interference' when a politician emerges who they don't like. It is perhaps the next round of election which will be the most telling. It remains unclear whether the 'evidence' will be made public, or if it will be convincing to the general Romanian public.