Budapest, Dec 2 (EFE).- Romania’s Constitutional Court validated Monday the results of the first round of the Nov. 24 presidential elections won by pro-Russian Calin Georgescu, who will face pro-European Elena Lasconi in the second round.
The CCR said that despite the delay in the validation, the second round of the elections will be held as scheduled on Sunday.
The of the Constitutional Court considered “unfounded” the request by candidate Cristian Vasile Terhes for the annulment of the elections alleging the electoral process was plagued by irregularities.
Georgescu, without the of any party, won 23% of the vote despite opinion polls giving him only 6%.
His results were mainly due to a viral strategy using videos and messages on social media, especially on TikTok, where his videos were viewed hundreds of millions of times, according to an analysis by the think tank Expert Forum.
Georgescu claimed not to have spent “a single lei” on his campaign, prompting the Permanent Electoral Authority to ask the prosecutor’s office to investigate the candidate on suspicion that he had failed to declare his expenses and contributions.
Lasconi, the candidate of the Europeanist Union Save Romania (USR), won 19% of the vote, with a lead of less than 3,000 votes over the incumbent Prime Minister, Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu.
The ultra-nationalist’s unexpected result led Romanian analysts to predict that it could strengthen the far-right in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, this did not happen as the ruling PSD won.
However, the ultra-nationalist AUR party, led by George Simion, doubled its 2020 to 18%.
Analysts say Lasconi will need the of the PSD and its voters to beat Georgescu in the second round of the presidential election. EFE
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