Romania orders rerun of election first round won by far-right pro-Russia candidate after 'Kremlin interference'

6 December 2024, 14:46 | Updated: 6 December 2024, 14:50

Romania has ordered the first round of its presidential election to be rerun after a pro-Russian candidate won, in an unprecedented decision sparked by claims of mass interference by the Kremlin.

Calin Georgescu, an independent far-right outsider, came from nowhere to win the first round of the election on November 24.

He had been due to face off against reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a run-off on Sunday.

But a top Romanian court has now ruled that the first round must be restaged after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote Mr Georgescu.

The intelligence from Bucharest security sources claimed that the Kremlin ran a sprawling campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Mr Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram.

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Mr Georgescu's success came as a shock, as he was a huge outsider who declared zero campaign spending.

He won 23% of the vote to Ms Lasconi's 19%, triggering a run-off as no candidate won an outright majority in the first round.

The country's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the decision to annul was "the only correct decision".

No date has been set yet for the rerun of the first round.

Mr Georgescu campaigned largely on TikTok and as an outsider candidate appears to have gained support from people largely outside of the political mainstream.

He has previously denied links to the Kremlin and has claimed that the political establishment is trying to undermine his legitimacy.

Romania, which has a population of 19 million, is a member of the European Union. But it also borders Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Black Sea, meaning it is closer to Russia's sphere of influence than many other EU countries.

Earlier, the European Union said it sent TikTok an urgent request for more information about the Romanian intelligence files suggesting that Moscow coordinated influencers on its platform to promote Mr Georgescu.

The 27-nation bloc's executive branch is using its sweeping digital rulebook to scrutinise the video sharing platform's role in the election, which ended with the far-right populist Mr Georgescu seemingly coming out of nowhere to take top spot in the first round of voting.

It is unclear from the intelligence release whether Mr Georgescu was aware of the alleged campaign or assisted in it.

European Commission officials said they asked the video sharing platform to comment on the files and to provide information on actions that it is taking in response.

It is the second time the commission has asked TikTok for information since the election's first round of voting on November 24, and comes a day after it ordered the Chinese-owned platform to retain all election-related files and evidence.

Henna Virkkunen, the commission's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a post on X: "We are concerned about mounting indications of coordinated foreign online influence operation targeting ongoing Romanian elections, especially on TikTok."

TikTok has 24 hours to respond to the EU request, officials told a press briefing in Brussels.