C\u0103lin Georgescu<\/p>\n
The true face of Western tyranny has just shown itself in Romanian\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n
A relatively unknown outsider C\u0103lin Georgescu, won 63% of the vote in the opening round. In contrast his main opponent the pro-European reformist Elena Lasconi, of the Save Romania Union party, won only 37% of the vote.<\/p>\n
It should have been clear-cut but there was a problem. The independent Georgescu has pledged to end military aid to Ukraine and improve ties with Russia.<\/p>\n
To make matters even worse, the media had also branded C\u0103lin Georgescu a \u201cvaccine sceptic\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n That may have attracted many Romanian voters but it alarmed the heads of state of many NATO countries. They simply couldn\u2019t allow a critic of NATO and a man who has praised Putin<\/a> to lead a NATO member state neighbouring Ukraine. There was simply too much at stake.<\/p>\n So now, no doubt after a few hastily convened meetings, Romania\u2019s high court has cancelled the results of the first round of the election, ostensibly on the grounds of alleged Russian interference.<\/p>\n This is how dictatorships work but being a supposed \u2018democracy\u2019 Romania has used the rule of law to cancel what could have been a potentially awkward election win.<\/p>\n So much for democracy, which obviously doesn\u2019t exist in Romania. Ed.<\/p>\n A top Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country\u2019s presidential election, days after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.<\/p>\n The momentous move by the court effectively voids the national election, which will have to be re-run.<\/p>\n The constitutional court\u2019s decision \u2013 which is final \u2013 came on Friday after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence two days earlier that alleged Moscow ran a sprawling drive comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote the pro-Russian candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram.<\/p>\n Despite being an unknown who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner<\/a> on 24 November, a shock result in the EU and Nato member state bordering Ukraine. He was due to face the pro-European reformist Elena Lasconi, of the Save Romania Union party, in a runoff on Sunday.<\/p>\n Romania was to have held its presidential runoff on Sunday with Georgescu seen as having a significant chance of beating his centrist rival and thus shifting the balance of power in the region. The ballot has now been cancelled with voting already under way in polling stations abroad.<\/p>\n \u201cThe electoral process to elect Romania\u2019s president will be fully re-run, and the government will set a new date and \u2026 calendar for the necessary steps,\u201d the court said in a statement.<\/p>\n The outgoing prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, welcomed the court\u2019s decision in a post on Facebook<\/a>. It was, he said \u201cthe only correct solution after the declassification of the documents \u2026 which show that the result of the Romanians\u2019 vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia\u2019s intervention\u201d.<\/p>\n However, Lasconi, the pro-European candidate, condemned the ruling. \u201cThe constitutional court\u2019s decision is illegal, amoral and crushes the very essence of democracy, voting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Georgescu called the ruling an \u201cofficial coup\u201d. \u201cThey will not be able to stop me. And they cannot stop the Romanian people from what they want to change,\u201d he told local media.<\/p>\n The European Commission said on Thursday that it had stepped up its monitoring of TikTok in the context of Romania\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n Georgescu, who calls for ending Romanian support for Ukraine to fend off Russia\u2019s invasion, had polled in the single digits before the first round last month. His astonishing victory raised fundamental questions about how the democratic system of a country embedded in western institutions could produce such a surprise.<\/p>\n Documents declassified by Romania\u2019s top security council on Wednesday indicated the country was a target of \u201caggressive hybrid Russian attacks\u201d during the election period.<\/p>\n Far-right parties also performed well in last Sunday\u2019s parliamentary election in Romania, though the ruling Social Democrats emerged as the largest grouping and hope to form a pro-EU coalition government.<\/p>\n The court has not called into question the integrity of the parliamentary vote.<\/p>\n Late on Thursday, thousands of demonstrators had massed in the capital, Bucharest, in support of democracy ahead of the now-cancelled presidential runoff.<\/p>\n Romanian musicians, film directors, actors and civic activists voiced their support for Lasconi at a rally in freezing temperatures, urging voters not to isolate the country from its allies and partners. An estimated 3,000 people chanted \u201cEurope!\u201d and \u201cNo Fascism\u201d, carrying banners that said \u201cDemocracy is in danger\u201d and \u201cOur children will be free\u201d.<\/p>\n A win by Georgescu, an admirer of Putin and Donald Trump, would pull Romania from its traditional place in the pro-western fold and push it into the group of central and eastern European states including Hungary, Slovakia and Austria with powerful far-right, Russia-friendly politicians.<\/p>\n An opinion poll by AtlasIntel, conducted on 4-5 December and quoted by the news website hotnews.ro, showed Lasconi narrowly ahead of Georgescu by 48.6% to 46.4%, one day after the documents on alleged Russian interference were declassified.<\/p>\n The evidence revealed that Georgescu was massively promoted on TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion.<\/p>\n \u201cReports by Romanian authorities that Russian disinformation is influencing the presidential elections in Romania show: (Russian President Vladimir) Putin wants to divide us and to undermine the unity within the EU and Nato\u201d Germany\u2019s foreign ministry posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia has denied interfering and TikTok said it did not give Georgescu preferential treatment.<\/p>\n Romanian prosecutors said on Thursday they had opened a criminal investigation against Georgescu on suspicion of money-laundering.<\/p>\n While the president\u2019s post is largely ceremonial, the head-of-state has moral authority and influence on Romania\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n The president also designates the next prime minister \u2013 a key role especially since legislative elections last weekend returned a fragmented parliament.<\/p>\n Since the fall of communism in 1989, Romania has never seen such a strong showing by the far right, fuelled by mounting anger over high inflation and fears over the Ukraine war.<\/p>\nRomanian court annuls first round of presidential election<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Deborah Cole \u2013 The Guardian Dec 6, 2024<\/h2>\n