Romanian Constitutional Court annuls presidential election, orders complete restart
Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) unanimously annulled the entire presidential election process, citing its constitutional mandate to ensure the legality and fairness of electoral procedures. The court has ordered the process to be…
Irina Marica · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) unanimously annulled the entire presidential election process, citing its constitutional mandate to ensure the legality and fairness of electoral procedures. The court has ordered the process to be restarted from scratch. The decision came amid recently declassified reports alleging Russian involvement in cyber activities aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
The presidential election process started with the first round on November 24, which ended with the surprise win of EU-skeptic, ultranationalist independent candidate Călin Georgescuand reformist USR leader Elena Lasconi in second place. Thus, the two were supposed to face again in the second round on December 8. Moreover, Romanians abroad have already begun heading to the polls starting December 6.
The CCR ruled on Friday, December 6: “Under art. 146 letter f) of the Constitution, it annuls the entire electoral process regarding the election of the President of Romania, carried out based on Government Decision no. 756/2024 regarding the establishment of the date of the elections for the President of Romania in 2024 and Government Decision no. 1061/2024 regarding the approval of the Calendar Program for the implementation of the necessary actions for the election of the President of Romania in 2024.”
The government is now tasked with setting a new date for the presidential election and drafting a revised electoral calendar to ensure the process complies with constitutional requirements. According to G4media.ro, this means that the candidates will have to register again and go through the validation process from the Central Electoral Office.
President Klaus Iohannis's term will legally end on December 21, 2024, and it is possible that the Constitutional Court will decide whether it will be extended or if he will be temporarily replaced by the president of the Senate, which will convene by then.
The CCR ruling is final and universally binding. It will be published in Part I of the Official Gazette and communicated to the public, the court said.
The top court also stated that the detailed reasoning behind its decision would be included in the official ruling, which would also be made public.
In a first reaction after CCR's ruling, Social Democrat prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, who also ran for president but didn't make it to the second round, said: "The Constitutional Court's decision to annul the presidential elections is the only correct solution following the declassification of documents from the CSAT meeting, which reveal that the results of the Romanian vote were blatantly distorted due to Russia's interference. The presidential elections must be repeated."
