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Romania’s constitutional court has ordered a recount of all first-round votes to rule out a suspicion of fraud in the country’s presidential election, which was won in a major upset by a little-known far-right candidate.
The court said on Thursday it had decided unanimously to order Romania’s central electoral bureau to “recheck and recount all valid and invalid ballots” cast in Sunday’s election, won by the Moscow-friendly ultranationalist Călin Georgescu.
The news website Digi24.ro reported that the decision related to an allegation of fraud over votes awarded to the centre-right candidate Elena Lasconi, who finished second and is scheduled to face Georgescu in the runoff on 8 December after parliamentary elections on Sunday.
That complaint also called for the court to annul the first-round result, something it will decide on at a meeting on Friday.
A separate complaint alleging electoral fraud made against Georgescu was rejected on the grounds that it was submitted too late.
The central election bureau was due to meet later on Thursday to discuss the court’s ruling, but its president, Toni Greblă, told Romanian media that once the official request had been received it could take days to recount the roughly 9.5m votes.
Observers have said the ruling risks diminishing the credibility of Romania’s state institutions in the run up to the parliamentary ballot and presidential runoff, viewed as critical to the future direction of a hitherto reliable EU and Nato ally.
It will also add to the turmoil surrounding the first round of voting, which Georgescu, who was polling at about 5% days before the vote, won comfortably after a campaign heavily based on viral TikTok videos reportedly boosted by bot-like activity.
On Wednesday, the deputy head of the country’s telecoms regulator, Ancom, said it was calling for the suspension of TikTok, a China-owned platform, from Thursday, pending an investigation into possible election manipulation.
Pavel Popescu said the call was based on evidence of “manipulation of the electoral process”. Romania’s national defence council is also analysing potential national security risks from “cyber state and non-state entities” in the electoral process.
In addition, the national audiovisual council, CNA, has called on the European Commission to investigate TikTok’s role, saying it suspected “manipulation of public opinion” and “algorithmic amplification” of posts favouring a particular candidate.
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TikTok has dismissed the council’s allegations. A spokesperson on Wednesday described the reports as “inaccurate and misleading”, saying most candidates had established a TikTok presence and the winners also campaigned on other digital platforms.
In October, Romania’s constitutional court banned another far-right politician from running in the presidential election in a decision that many analysts, civil rights groups and some political parties said had overstepped its powers.
Georgescu has called for an end to the war in Ukraine, denied the existence of Covid-19, described two second world war-era Romanian fascists as “national heroes” and claimed that in foreign affairs Romania would benefit from “Russian wisdom”.
