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Mar 10, 2025
Timeline: Romania Overturns Presidential Election ResultHere's a timeline of events that led to the extraordinary decision to bar a candidate from running for president, followed by another extraordinary decision to annul his previous election win
It’s not technically required that members of NATO be “democratic” nations, but it’s supposed to be important. NATO says it “promotes democratic values.” In the United States, the Defense Department in 2022 listed a commitment to “uphold democracy” as the top requirement for NATO membership.
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And yet, Romania on Sunday barred Calin Georgescu, a critic of NATO labeled by opponents and the media as an “ultranationalist,” from being a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential election. No reason was given when the decision was made. Protests erupted in Bucharest almost immediately.
This decision comes after the country’s Constitutional Court on Dec. 6 annulled Georgescu’s first round victory in November. That decision came two days before the runoff election. The court ordered a new election, one in which, as of now, Georgescu can’t participate.
It’s not technically a timeline event, but Racket readers might want to begin with a primer on major issues in Romania from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The country has been rocked by high inflation in the last few years, reaching 13.8% in 2022. The candidates’ stances on the war in Ukraine have also been important topics. It’s all key background to the Georgescu event.
What follows is a timeline of events leading up to this election crisis:
October 5, 2024Romania’s Constitutional court issues a ruling barring Diana Iovanovici-?o?oaca, head of the nationalist party S.O.S. Romania, from participating in two upcoming rounds of presidential elections on November 24th and December 8th. The stated reasons begin with technicalities (signature lists appearing insufficient) but proceed to a weightier argument that Iovanovici-?o?oaca’s pro-Russian politics violate conditions of NATO and EU membership. The Court ruling provides the intellectual template for later decisions involving Georgescu.
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Dianaiovanovici S?os?oaca?decision
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November 24, 2024
Calin Georgescu wins the first round of Romania’s presidential election, with 22.9% of the vote. A runoff is scheduled for December 8.
His first round victory causes a scare. Romanians protested his victory (see below). Georgescu left his far right polity party, the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, in 2022 after it accused him of being pro-Russia and anti-NATO. He has also praised Romania’s 1930s and 1940s fascist leaders as national heroes, according to this AP story. Georgescu is also a supporter of President Donald Trump.
December 6, 2024
Romania’s Constitution Court annuls Georgescu’s first round victory, citing election interference, referencing similarities to past election interference in Moldova and Ukraine that’s been attributed to Russia. The decision relied on Romanian intelligence reports of Russian involvement. From a Congressional Research Service report on the decision:
The court’s decision drew from newly declassified Romanian intelligence reports describing a large-scale online effort to aggressively promote Georgescu’s candidacy ahead of the first round. The online campaign, according to the reports, was coordinated on Telegram and Discord channels, backed by a state actor, and largely carried out on TikTok, where paid influencers and networks of accounts amplified content and hashtags associated with Georgescu’s candidacy. Some content appeared to violate Romanian electoral law requirements that political campaign material be labeled as such, resulting in Georgescu’s preferential visibility on TikTok. The reports also said that Romania’s electoral websites and systems experienced over 85,000 cyberattacks close to or on election day, likely backed by a state actor. Elsewhere, the reports described growing Russian hybrid threats targeting Romania (see below, “Black Sea Security and Russia”) and pointed to seeming similarities between the coordinated social media campaign in Romania’s election and alleged interference cases in Moldova and Ukraine attributed to Russia.
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Crs Report On Romania Election Annulment
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Romania Special Edition
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December 17, 2024The European Union opens election interference proceedings against TikTok for suspected breach of the Digital Services Act. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issues the following statement:
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Commission Opens Formal Proceedings Agai...
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Jan. 16, 2025Romania’s government approves the first round of new presidential elections for May 4, followed by a second round on May 18. The candidate filing deadline is March 15, setting the calendar for new presidential elections.
January 21, 2025The European Court for Human Rights unanimously rejects Georgescu’s request for “interim measures” to suspend the Romanian court’s decision.
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No Interim Measures Issued Against Annul...
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January 27, 2025The European Union’s Venice Commission, at the request of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, issues an “urgent opinion” to answer the following question: “Under which conditions and under which legal standards can a constitutional court invalidate elections, drawing from the recent Romanian case?” Among the conclusions and recommendations:
Proving violations of the law by campaigning online and via social media is particularly challenging. Well-reasoned, transparent decisions on such matters are crucial. In the opinion of the Venice Commission, such decisions should precisely indicate the violations and the evidence, and they must not be based solely on classified intelligence (which may only be used as contextual information), as this would not guarantee the necessary transparency and verifiability.
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2025 0127 Venice Commission
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Feb. 14, 2025U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance cites the annulment of Georgescu’s first round victory during an address to the Munich Security Conference about suppression of free speech and democratic values in EU countries:
I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don’t go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too.
Feb. 27, 2025Georgescu is placed under “ judicial control” as Romanian prosecutors launch a criminal case against him. The designation means he can’t leave the county, although Georgescu was not placed under arrest.
Police stop Georgescu while he is en route to register for the upcoming elections. A statement from prosecutors says criminal proceedings were launched “ for the commission of the following crimes:”
- incitement to actions against the constitutional order
- communication of false information
- false declarations in continuous form… (regarding sources of financing of the electoral campaign and declarations of assets)
- initiating or establishing an organization with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character, joining or supporting, in any form, such a group
- promoting, in public, the cult of persons guilty of committing crimes of genocide against humanity and war crimes, as well as the act of promoting, in public, fascist, legionary, racist or xenophobic ideas, conceptions or doctrines
- initiating or establishing an organization with an anti-Semitic character, joining or supporting, in any form
March 9, 2025By now dubbed the TikTok Messiah, Romania’s central election authority rules that Georgescu cannot be a candidate in the new presidential election scheduled for May 4. The election authority issues a statement saying: “It is inadmissible when rerunning the election to consider that the same person meets the conditions needed to accede to the presidency.”
March 10, 2025Georgescu appeals the decision to Romania’s Constitutional Court, calling the election authority’s ruling “a direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide.” The court —the same body that annulled his Dec. 4 first round victory — is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 5 p.m. to take up the matter.
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