Romanian appeals court upholds scrubbing fishy presidential election

A Romanian appeals court on Tuesday rejected far-right candidate Călin Georgescu’s challenge of a decision by the Constitutional Court to annul the country’s Nov. 24 presidential election.

The Constitutional Court had scrapped the election amid concerns over a Russian influence campaign that apparently helped ultranationalist Georgescu rocket from obscurity to win the first round. Georgescu’s ticket was buoyed by a TikTok campaign that Romania’s security services likened to previous Kremlin-run operations in Moldova and Ukraine.

Georgescu protested the appeal court’s rejection of his challenge on Tuesday, saying “Justice has been brought to its knees again,” and “Through what happened today, the people [have been] condemned to accept corruption and injustice as a state of affairs.” He has five days to appeal the decision.

The scuttled election between Georgescu — a pro-Russia, anti-EU and anti-NATO candidate — and Elena Lasconi, his center-right pro-EU challenger, was seen as pitting East against West in the country.

Georgescu’s prior praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his threats to halt aid to Ukraine prompted fears that his victory would see Romania drawn deeper into the Kremlin’s orbit. Lasconi, on the other hand, pledged to keep Romania on a path aligned with the West.

The Romanian government has yet to announce plans for a new election. In the meantime, incumbent President Klaus Iohannis has extended his term as potential candidates gear up to redo the process.