Calin Georgescu has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the countryʼs Constitutional Courtʼs decision to start the presidential election from scratch, citing manipulative campaigning.
This is reported by the Romanian media outlet G4Media.
In a document seen by the media, Georgescu asks ECHR to oblige the Romanian authorities to organize a second round of voting, which he and pro-Western candidate Elena Lasconi reached. The politician insists on an urgent consideration of the case.
Georgescu believes it is necessary to force Bucharest to “take measures to correct the moral and democratic damage” and restore confidence in the electoral process. In his complaint, the candidate mentions, among other things:
- the right to free elections, violated by the annulment of votes allegedly without evidence;
- the right to a fair trial, allegedly violated by the lack of a transparent process;
- lack of a mechanism for appealing the decision of the Constitutional Court at the state level.
Presidential elections in Romania
The first round of the presidential election in Romania was held on November 24. Far-right politician Calin Georgescu and liberal pro-European candidate Elena Lasconi advanced to the second round. Lasconi beat the countryʼs incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu by just 2 700 votes.
Georgescuʼs leadership was unexpected, and he was accused of influencing the election through TikTok. Because of this, the European Commission even asked the platform to provide information on how the social network has reduced the risk of inauthentic or automated use of its service, as well as to list the risks arising from its recommended content system.
Romanian intelligence has found that the TikTok account bogpr, used by Romanian citizen Bogdan Pescir, participated in financing Georgescuʼs campaign. He made payments totaling $381 000 between October 24 and November 24 to users of TikTok accounts that participated in Georgescuʼs promotion.
Romaniaʼs Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election on December 6. A new vote is scheduled for spring 2025.
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