Romania’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday barred far-right front-runner candidate Călin Georgescu from competing in a May rerun of the country’s presidential election, despite protests and accusations of tyranny from Georgescu and his supporters.
The country’s Central Electoral Bureau rejected his candidacy Sunday, saying Georgescu had violated Romania’s election rules while coming out of nowhere to win the first round of the presidential vote last November, partly on the back of a wildly successful TikTok campaign.
Georgescu appealed the decision at the Constitutional Court, where all nine justices voted to reject it Wednesday evening, making the authorities’ decision to keep him from the presidential race final.
The Constitutional Court was also the one that annulled Georgescu’s victory last year, flagging undeclared campaign financing and fraudulent use of digital technologies, with an alleged Russian operation seen as having influenced the result.
Moscow has denied any links to Georgescu. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday any election that doesn’t involve Georgescu was illegitimate.
The decision to keep Georgescu out of the race is expected to be met with backlash from the Trump administration, which includes key officials who support Georgescu.
Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser, called the Central Electoral Bureau’s decision Sunday “crazy.” Vice-president JD Vance used Romania’s election cancellation last year as an example of democratic backsliding in Europe, when speaking at the Munich Security Council last week.
Candidates to be Romania’s next president have up to March 19 to file to run. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for May 4, with a run-off set for May 18.
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