Romania’s far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu and dozens of his supporters staged a protest at a shuttered polling station in Bucharest after an election runoff was scrapped by the country's Constitutional Court.
More than 100 people gathered outside a polling station in the capital on December 8 -- the originally scheduled date of the runoff vote -- chanting "Down with dictatorship," "We want to vote," and "Thieves.”
Georgescu, whose pro-Russian comments have prompted protests by thousands of mostly young Romanians in recent days, said the authorities canceled the elections because they were afraid he would win.
"I'm here in the name of democracy and always will be," Georgescu told reporters outside the station in the European Union and NATO member country.
Georgescu, who ran as an independent, won the first round of the election on November 24 ahead of reformist Elena Lasconi of the center-right Save Romania Union party, setting up the second-round runoff.
However, the Constitutional Court on December 6 annuled the entire presidential election, throwing the process into upheaval even as diaspora voting in the second round had already begun at sites outside the country.
The court in its published ruling cited the illegal use of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of "undeclared sources of funding."
Georgescu had blasted the court's ruling as an "officialized coup" and an attack on democracy, while Lasconi also assailed the decision.
Georgescu on December 7 urged voters to turn up at polling stations and "to wait for democracy to win through their power," according to a statement by his team.
"Mr. Calin Georgescu believes that voting is an earned right. That is why he believes that Romanians have the right to be in front of the polling stations tomorrow," the statement said.
Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu and his supporters rallied in Bucharest on December 8.
The runoff had been seen as a referendum on the NATO and EU member's future course amid accusations of Russian meddling that brought thousands of Romanians onto the streets in support of the country's place in the Euro-Atlantic community.
The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision came just two days after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence that alleged Russia had organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Georgescu -- the shock first-round winner -- across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.
Georgescu had appeared as a favorite to win the runoff, but was passed by Lasconi in the latest opinion poll after the intelligence documents were released.
The court, without naming Georgescu, said that one of the 13 candidates in the November 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, distorting the outcome of the vote.
Iohannis said he would remain in office until a new presidential election could be conducted again from the start.
He is expected to appoint a prime minister to begin forming a government from the parliament that was elected on December 1. That administration will choose the date of the new election.