Romania top court justifies ban on Georgescu presidential run
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The Romanian Constitutional Court cited the constitution and judicial precedents in its decision to block the presidential front-runner from taking part in the repeat elections in May.
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Calin Georgescu, the winner of the first round of presidential elections, speaks to media outside Romania's Electoral Authority, in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, March 7, 2025 (AP)
The Constitutional Court of Romania defended on Saturday its decision to block the presidential frontrunner, Calin Georgescu, from running in the repeat elections scheduled for May.
"The Election Bureau applied constitutional provisions and interpretative principles of Decision No. 2 dated October 5, 2024 in the specific situation that had to be analyzed," the court said in the note.
The court said, in justifying its decision, it agreed with the electoral body's interpretation that labeled Georgescu "inadmissible" and referenced the precedent set last year when presidential candidate Diana Sosoaca was barred from running in the election.
It emphasized that the procedure was stipulated by law without requiring the candidate's presence in response to Georgescu's challenge to the election commission's decision on the grounds of violating the right to defense.
Georgescu gets excluded from elections
Romania's electoral office sparked outrage among far-right candidate Calin Georgescu's supporters in Bucharest on March 9 by rejecting his nomination for a re-run of last year's presidential election in May, a decision that came after Georgescu's rapid rise to prominence and his unexpected victory in the first round of the presidential election last November.
Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the election before December's runoff, claiming Russian interference and heavy social media backing for Georgescu, who now faces allegations of campaign finance violations, ties to a fascist group, and support for war criminals, with authorities basing their decision on two merged criminal cases related to extremist activities.
Romanian authorities accused Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli on December 2 of interfering in domestic affairs after a public call with far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, which was shared extensively by far-right groups in Romania and globally.
Independent candidate Georgescu secured a surprise victory in the first round of the November 2024 presidential election, winning 22.94% of the vote. His closest rival, Elena Lasconi, leader of the liberal Save Romania Union and a strong advocate for NATO and US partnerships, trailed with 19.18%.
Both Georgescu and his opponent, Elena-Valerica Lasconi, condemned the Constitutional Court's annulment of the first-round results, with Lasconi calling it "illegal and immoral" in a social media video, declaring that the Romanian state had trampled democracy and the elections should have continued to respect the people's will.
