Results of first round of presidential elections cancelled in Romania

The Constitutional Court of Romania has invalidated the results of the first round of the presidential election held on 1 December.

"In accordance with Article 146, paragraph F of the Constitution, the entire electoral process for the election of the president of Romania, held on the basis of Government Decree No. 756/2024 on setting the date of the presidential election in Romania in 2024, is annulled," the court said in its decision, as quoted by the Romanian TV channel Digi24.

"The electoral process for the presidential elections in Romania will be resumed in full, and the government will set a new date for the presidential elections in Romania, as well as a new calendar programme for the necessary measures," the Constitutional Court added.

The judges of the Constitutional Court made this decision after an urgent meeting on Friday for consultations in the context of the fact that the Constitutional Court received a large number of new requests to cancel the presidential election results.

The requests referred to documents declassified by the Supreme National Defence Council, which stated that the campaign of pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu was the result of organised manipulation from abroad.  

Prior to that, the Romanian Constitutional Court recognised the first round of the presidential election, which the anti-Western Georgescu won, on Monday, 2 December.

On Friday, voting in the second round began at polling stations abroad.

This week, Georgescu made statements that if he wins, he will ban the continuation of Ukrainian grain exports through Romania and further military aid to Ukraine.