By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Romania has plunged into political turmoil as the country’s top court annulled its presidential elections and the upcoming runoff, which was initially scheduled for Sunday, December 8.
The Constitutional Court’s decision followed the surprise win of far-right pro-Russia candidate Călin Georgescu, who has raised doubts about the country’s NATO military alliance membership.
He was to face liberal Elena Lasconi, who is fiercely pro-NATO and pro-European Union and could become Romania’s first woman president.
Yet the judges’ unanimous ruling on Friday voids the entire electoral process, with the court citing “irregularities” after security sourcs, the European Union and American officials expressed concern about possible Russian interference.
The court’s decision requires a complete restart of the presidential elections, for which a new date has to be announced.
On Wednesday, the Romanian Security Council concluded that the country had been targeted by “Russian hybrid attacks” during the election campaign.
Georgescu allegedly benefited from a coordinated campaign on TikTok’s social media platform while claiming not to have spent any money.
RUSSIA’S DENIAL
Moscow has vehemently denied it interfered in Romania’s election process.
The moon-landing-denying Russian President-Vladimir-Poetin-embracing Georgescu was also favored by TikTok’s social media platform’s “algorithm,” making it easier to find his content, according to investigators.
The allegations of Russian interference raised concerns within Romania’s political establishment and within the European Union and the United States.
Romania shares the European Union’s longest border with war-torn Ukraine, to which it has donated a Patriot missile battery and opened its ports to allow the export of Kyiv’s grain.
Georgescu has questioned the benefits of NATO membership and pushed for the country of 19 million people to adopt a policy of “neutrality” towards its neighbor while praising Putin as one of the world’s “few true leaders.”
The EU fears he could move Romania towards a pro-Russia camp with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has come under pressure over his perceived authoritarian tendencies.
His opponent Lasconi even warned that a Georgescu victory “could push the country back toward Russia and the dark days of dictatorship.”
SOVIET UNION
Lasconi recalled that Romania was under the military and economic control of the Soviet Union until the late 1950s.
Soon after, it came under communist rule for four decades until 1989, when dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed and executed.
Following the first round of the presidential election, the European Commission, the EU’s executive, increased its surveillance of TikTok. This week, it ordered the company “to freeze all data” related to the Romanian vote.
Last Sunday, a new parliament was also elected between the two rounds of the presidential election.
Although the right-wing radical and pro-Russia nationalist parties increased their voter base, the pro-EU and pro-NATO parties still won a majority.
The Social Democrats, the Liberals, the reformist Save Romania Union (USR), the Hungarian minority party UDMR, and representatives of other ethnic minorities said they wanted “to prevent international isolation” for Romania.
They have already agreed to form a coalition with each other to govern this nation of 19 million people.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
The Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday that it uncovered one of the most extensive and sophisticated Hamas tunnel systems discovered to date, a sprawling underground route running more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) and plunging approximately 25 meters (82 feet) underground beneath Rafah.
Six Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds have ignited a political firestorm after releasing a video urging U.S. service members and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders,” drawing sharp reactions from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The White House was preparing Friday for a highly visible meeting between Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, and U.S. President Donald J. Trump amid growing concerns over possible federal troop or National Guard deployments to the city. The made-for-television get-together comes as the president links the influx of migrants — many of them arriving undocumented, or in his words “illegally” — and rising crime in America’s largest city to what he describes as weakened local governance.
A Russian oil tanker under U.S. sanctions made a dramatic U-turn on its way to Venezuela after a U.S. warship appeared in its path near the country’s coast, Worthy News learned early Friday.
A man has been charged with federal terrorism offenses after allegedly dousing a woman with liquid and setting her on fire aboard a Chicago subway train, authorities confirmed Friday, in a case that revived concerns about transit safety amid rising violence in U.S. public-transport systems.
Capitol Hill — the U.S. seat of Congress and legislative center of American government — faced fresh drama Thursday when a small electrical fire broke out in the underground subway system connecting the Rayburn House Office Building to the U.S. Capitol, forcing evacuations.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump met Thursday with a group of freed Israeli hostages and their loved ones at the White House, praising the survivors as “heroes” and vowing continued support for efforts to return remaining captives held in Gaza.