Much Ado About Everything

Romanian pro-European Union parties said they are coming together to head off any future bid from the far right, following the victory of the far-right candidate in a recent election that was invalidated by the country’s high court because of irregularities, setting off massive upheaval in the EU member state, the Guardian reported.

The parties, which include the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the opposition centrist Save Romania Union (USR), and the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR, said on Tuesday they would create a coalition government and field one candidate in new presidential elections expected early next year.

In legislative elections on Dec. 1, the PSD won the most parliamentary seats but were closely followed by three far-right, ultranationalist parties, all holding pro-Russia positions, which together garnered more than a third of the vote.

A week before, however, Călin Georgescu, an ultranationalist independent, shocked the country by winning the first round of the presidential elections. Georgescu’s success drew accusations of foreign interference – specifically, Russian interference.

As a result, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the presidential first round last Friday two days before the runoff, ruling that it was “marred … by multiple irregularities and violations of electoral legislation.” Georgescu was set to face the pro-European USR leader Elena Lasconi in the second round. It is unclear now if he will be able to run in the do-over vote with prosecutors still investigating his campaign.

Intelligence documents that were released ahead of the annulment included information about cyberattacks and a “massive” campaign of thousands of social media accounts, implicating Georgescu with links to Moscow. The evidence suggested that the far-right candidate was promoted on TikTok through coordinated accounts, altered algorithms, and paid promotion, reported the Guardian.

The new administration of the center-left coalition is expected to set the new dates for the first and second rounds shortly. Klaus Iohannis, the outgoing president, will serve as interim head of state until the elections are over and will nominate a new prime minister.

The outcome of Romania’s general and presidential elections are crucial to deciding its future direction, especially as it concerns the EU and NATO – the country holds membership in both blocs.

Since the election, there have been nationwide protests over the far-right candidate’s victory and the alleged foreign interference, while Moscow has denied meddling in the elections.

Meanwhile, last weekend, Romanian police stopped 20 people headed to the capital of Bucharest in vehicles containing weapons, with officials saying this group planned to disrupt the protests against Georgescu. Among those taken in for questioning was the former leader of a mercenary group operating in Africa and local political figure, Horaţiu Potra, who allegedly has links to Georgescu, according to Politico.

The group had planned to initiate an “intimidation operation” targeting politicians and journalists, officials said.