Thousands of people protested in Romania’s capital on Sunday against a top court decision to annul the presidential election after an outside candidate unexpectedly came to the forefront last month.
Many protesters in Bucharest blew horns and waved Romania’s blue, yellow and red flags, while others waved placards with slogans such as “Democracy is not optional” and “We want free elections”. Many also demanded restarting the presidential race from a second round.
The protests come a month after the Constitutional Court took the unprecedented step of canceling the election just two days before December. 8 runoff. Far-right populist Calin Georgescu surprised many by winning the first round on November 24, prompting allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference.
“We are protesting against the coup that took place on December 6,” George Simeone, leader of the far-right Coalition for the Unity of the Romanian People, said at the protest on Sunday.
Simeone, whose party organized Sunday’s protest, told reporters, “We regret finding out so late that we were living a lie and that we were led by people who claimed to be Democrats. Were, but are not at all.” “We demand a return to democracy through the resumption of elections starting from the second round.”
Last month’s canceled presidential race threw the EU and NATO member country into turmoil and led to controversies, including a recount of first-round votes.
New dates have been set to re-run the voting, with the first round scheduled for 4 May. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the ballots cast, a runoff will be held two weeks later on May 18. It is not yet clear whether Georgescu will be able to vote or run in new elections.
Georgescu has since challenged the court’s decision in a local appeals court and filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
The Constitutional Court’s published decision to annul the elections cited the illegal use of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources” of funding. Georgescu had announced zero campaign spending.
Many observers attributed Georgescu’s success to his TikTok account, which now has 7.2 million likes and 646,000 followers. Some experts suspected that Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated, while Romania’s top security body alleged that he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.
On Friday, another protest in Bucharest was attended by thousands of people, who also expressed anger over the canceled presidential race.
