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Coming to terms with election chaos

Romanian police have searched several houses on suspicion of voter bribery and money laundering. Yesterday the Constitutional Court canceled the presidential election after allegations of manipulation.

After the annulled presidential election, police in Romania raided several houses. Three buildings in the central Romanian city of Brasov were searched as part of an investigation into allegations of “voter bribery, money laundering and data manipulation,” prosecutors said. It is about suspicion of “illegal financing of the election campaign of a candidate for the office of Romanian President.”

Yesterday, Romania's Supreme Court completely annulled the first round of the presidential election due to allegations of Russian interference. The right-wing radical and Russia-friendly candidate Calin Georgescu, completely surprisingly, received the most votes there with almost 23 percent. This meant he moved into the runoff election against the center-right politician Elena Lasconi, which was actually planned for Sunday.

Accusations of influencing on social media

On Wednesday, the Romanian presidential office released intelligence documents that said Romania had been the target of an “aggressive Russian hybrid attack.” The secret services had discovered, among other things, that thousands of previously inactive TikTok accounts had suddenly started distributing Georgescu's content en masse before the election.

Although his account only had a few subscribers, some of his videos were viewed millions of times. Georgescu is also said to have provided false information about the financing of his election campaign.

Iohannis wants to stay in office

Now the government should set an election date for a repeat of the presidential election. However, a new parliament has just been elected. And the new president would actually have been responsible for ordering the formation of the government.

Acting President Klaus Iohannis still sees a clear path to new elections: “After the validation of last Sunday's parliamentary elections, the new parliament will be convened. Then it will form a new government and this new government will set the dates for the first two rounds of the presidential election .” He himself announced that he would remain in office until the new elections.

Strong criticism of the cancellation

The Social Democratic Party welcomed the ruling by the constitutional judges. However, clear criticism comes from other parties – such as the liberal USR. Their candidate Lasconi said: “Today is the moment in which the Romanian state has trampled on democracy. But God, the Romanian people, the truth and the law will prevail and those who are guilty of this will be found Destruction of our democracy.”

Lasconi admits that the choice was not free. She still believes the court's intervention was wrong. The right-wing politician George Simion even spoke of a coup. Simion also ran in the first round of the presidential election.

He and all other candidates for the election must now register again for the voting process. The Constitutional Court will then decide which candidates will be admitted to the election. It is unclear whether Georgescu will be allowed to run again.

With information from Silke Hahne and Oliver Soos, ARD Studio Vienna.

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