РУССКИЙ
9:15 08.12.2024 •
Călin Georgescu – winner of the first round of elections.
Romanian court cancels presidential election amid Russian influence fears, writes POLITICO. Constitutional court throws Romanian politics into turmoil, 2 days before runoff vote was due to take place!
Romania’s top constitutional court on Friday dramatically cancelled high-stakes presidential elections after security services warned Russia was conducting “aggressive” hybrid attacks on the Eastern European country.
Călin Georgescu, a NATO and EU-skeptic who has been sympathetic to Russia, shocked the Western political establishment two weeks ago by coming from nowhere to lead the Romanian presidential race.
He has no party, didn’t take part in big television debates, and was almost unknown to voters before surging into first place in the first round of the vote. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Romanian intelligence services in pointing the finger at a major foreign influence operation — likely from Russia (?!) — for boosting Georgescu’s campaign.
The court decision plunged the strategically important EU and NATO member state into political chaos, inflaming divisions that opened up after a far-right outsider came from nowhere to win the first round in the presidential contest two weeks ago.
The second round runoff was due to be held on Sunday, 8th December. That will now not take place, the statement said.
The decision will be highly controversial as politicians from both the far right as well as liberal reformists view an annulment as an attempt by the widely distrusted old establishment parties — the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) — to hold on to power by pulling strings within the judiciary.
Elena Lasconi, a liberal former TV journalist who was set to stand against Georgescu in the second round, was mortified by what she saw as a hijacking of the electoral process.
“Today is the moment when the Romanian state trampled over democracy. God, the Romanian people, the truth and the law will prevail and will punish those who are guilty of destroying our democracy,” she said immediately after the annulment.
The Romanian government will now need to draw up a timeline for fresh elections, the court said.
Nicolae Ciucă, the head of the Romanian senate and the National Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in the first round called for “calm, unity and maturity” and said he supported all necessary efforts to clarify any suspicions and to guarantee a fair election.
The decision to cancel the vote was “without precedent in Romania’s democratic history,” he said, adding “the current situation is a difficult test for our democratic institutions.”
The unexpected ruling risks destabilizing Romania, a strategically important NATO member of 19 million people on the eastern edge of the European Union.
The shock win for Georgescu in the first round on Nov. 24 triggered widespread dismay among pro-Western centrists, and sparked demonstrations in central Bucharest. On Thursday night, thousands of pro-Europeans turned out to voice their support for maintaining the country’s international alliances.
Georgescu’s fiery criticism of NATO and the EU — and his threat to end all assistance for Ukraine — stoked fears that Romania was on the brink of turning away from the West toward Moscow.
The court’s decision follows dramatic revelations of alleged foreign influence on the contest. Earlier this week, the Romanian government declassified intelligence files that strongly suggested to a Russian-backed campaign to corrupt the election.
The documents said 25,000 pro-Georgescu accounts on social media app TikTok burst into action just two weeks before the first-round vote.
The risk now is that the court’s decision leaves millions of Georgescu’s supporters feeling angry and disenfranchised.
“Shame!!! Coup d’état in full swing,” said George Simion, far-right AUR party leader who was backing Georgescu in the second round. He urged his supporters not to demonstrate in the streets against the court’s decision: “We are not taking to the streets, we will not be provoked. This system must fall democratically!”
Current Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who also stood as a presidential candidate, said the ruling was “the only fair solution” after the documents revealed the scale of the alleged interference operation. “The Romanians’ vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia’s intervention,” he said. “The presidential elections must be rerun.”
The court’s decision throws the government of Romania into complete confusion.
Parliamentary elections held last week delivered a split result and a four-party coalition.
The current President Klaus Iohannis was due to end his term on Dec. 21 but local media reported he will stay on until the next president is sworn in after fresh elections.
That would mean Iohannis will approve a new prime minister, once the coalition government puts forward a name, to avoid a long period without a functioning government.
…Romania is an important NATO outpost on the border with Ukraine. The flow of weapons for the Kyiv Nazi regime goes through Romania. The US plans to create the largest military base in Europe on Romanian territory, which will be larger than Ramstein in Germany.
Under these conditions, it is impossible for NATO to allow a person who could interfere with these plans to become the president of Romania. That is why a Coup d'Etat took place there in the interests of the US and NATO.
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