Romanian Opposition Welcomes Vance Comments On Election Annulment

BUCHAREST -- Romanian opposition politicians have welcomed comments made by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in which he questioned the annulment of the country's presidential election after accusations of Russian meddling.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, Vance said that Romania canceled the election based on the "flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors."

The first round of Romania's presidential election was canceled by the Constitutional Court on December 6. According to Romanian intelligence reports, foreign actors had manipulated social-media platforms, especially TikTok, to benefit far-right, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu.

The campaign, the intelligence reports suggested, was likely orchestrated by Russia, which has denied any interference.

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The president of the reformist opposition Save Romania Union (USR), Elena Lasconi, who was supposed to face Georgescu in the second round of the election before it was canceled, said that Vance's comments “confirm what my colleagues and I have been saying for so long: It is vital that we explain why the elections were canceled.”

"What JD Vance is saying now shows that Romania has not explained to its external partners, nor even to its strategic partners, what happened last December," Lasconi said.

Lasconi has condemned the Constitutional Court’s decision, calling it illegal and immoral.

Deep Divisions In Romania

While Georgescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, did not comment on Vance's speech, he made several reposts on X that were excerpting or offering commentary on Vance's speech.

The annulment of the vote has exacerbated deep divisions in Romanian politics. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on February 10 said he is resigning from his position amid an effort by the opposition to have him impeached after he stayed in power following the Constitutional Court's annulment of the election.

The new presidential vote is planned for May 4, with a possible run-off vote scheduled for May 18.

Lasconi said that the country now needed to take "concrete measures to ensure that the elections in May are safe.

Regarding the planned vote, the president of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, who finished fourth in the first round, said he is confident that "the elections in Romania will resume, as is natural, starting with the second round."

In response to Vance's speech, Simion said that "we will organize in the coming period, from petitions to rallies, all the necessary, democratic, peaceful instruments, to put the Romanian people and their will first."

Simion, together with parliamentarians from AUR, filed a request on January 10 for the Constitutional Court to revise its verdict. His party has been leading protests since December against the decision.

In his speech at the Munich conference, Vance called for European politicians to have some perspective.

"You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social-media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage, even," Vance said. "But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with."

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who supported the Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the election, posted on X that "Romania remains a defender of the democratic values that Europe shares with the USA. All RO authorities are committed to organizing free & fair elections by empowering citizens and guaranteeing the freedom to vote."