(Bloomberg) -- Romania’s top court validated the outcome of a key presidential vote, approving the candidacy of a pro-Russian candidate for a runoff with high geopolitical stakes for the nation on NATO’s eastern flank.
The Constitutional Court in Bucharest rejected a challenge to the Nov. 24 first-round vote, for which it had ordered a recount. All nine justices made the decision unanimously, opting against forcing a repeat, a move that many feared would stir public outrage — and lift the anti-establishment credentials of the winner, Calin Georgescu.
“The result of the recount from the Romanian electoral commission didn’t show any fraud committed during the presidential ballot,” Constitutional Court President Marian Enache told reporters on Monday in Bucharest.
Georgescu’s Nov. 24 victory triggered Romania’s biggest political crisis since the collapse of communism, eliminating Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu from a contest he had been tipped to win. But Ciolacu’s Social Democrats scored a victory in the parliamentary election on Sunday, stemming for now a far-right insurgency against the ruling political parties.
Following the victory, Ciolacu — who had resigned as party leader the day after the first-round ballot — was reinstated in a meeting of Social Democrats on Monday.
Senior Romanian security officials assessed that Georgescu’s bid was bolstered by a social media campaign on TikTok that was fueled by foreign interference, pointing the finger at Moscow. Georgescu, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, emerged from obscurity to win the contest, buoyed by voter discontent over inflation, poverty and corruption in the Black Sea nation of 19 million.
‘Adult in the Room’
Georgescu will now face opposition leader Elena Lasconi, a mayor and former journalist who said she would support a “national unity” government, in a runoff on Dec. 8. The back-to-back elections will determine the orientation of a country considered until now to be a reliable transatlantic ally.
The court also factored in conclusions from Romania’s Supreme Defense Council, which includes top government and intelligence officials, that one candidate — it didn’t name Georgescu — benefited from “massive exposure and preferential treatment.” The panel explicitly cited Russian influence operations seeking to shift public opinion as a factor.
The Social Democrats said they will refrain from endorsing either of the presidential candidates. Ciolacu told reporters that the party would be the “adult in the room” and focus on governing the country — and said the presidential verdict represented a “yellow card” for Romania’s political establishment.
(Updates with premier’s reinstatement as party leader, comments on presidential race from fifth paragraph.)
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