The second round will pit two candidates who created a surprise, the centrist Elena Lasconi and Calin Georgescu, admirer of Vladimir Putin.
Published on 02/12/2024 19:58
Reading time: 2min
The appeal was unsuccessful. After a new count of votes, the Romanian Constitutional Court validated, Monday, December 2, the results of the first round of the presidential election, opening the way to a duel between centrist mayor Elena Lasconi and far-right candidate Calin Georgescu , December 8.
Jurisdiction “decided to confirm and ratify the results of the elections of November 24 and to organize the second round on December 8”she said in a press release.
It was seized by Cristian Terhes, MEP and unsuccessful candidate in the first round of voting, who accused several polling stations of irregularities in favor of Elena Lasconi. The recount “did not reveal fraud likely to alter the outcome of the elections”declared to the press the President of the Court, Marian Enache.
The Constitutional Court had rejected another appeal, received “lately”which denounced the opaque financing of the campaign of Calin Georgescu, the surprise winner of the first round. The Romanian authorities, for their part, accused the TikTok platform of having granted it a “preferential treatment”which the Chinese owner of the social network denied. Demonstrations were organized to protest against the result of this admirer of Vladimir Putin.
Between the two rounds of the presidential election, the legislative elections were held on Sunday and resulted in a fragmented Parliament, with only 22% of the votes for the Social Democrats (PSD) in power, and a breakthrough for the far-right AUR party. (18%), first of three parties in a nationalist bloc which garnered nearly 32% of the votes in total.
