Romania is a safe, solid country, president Klaus Iohannis said in a statement hours after the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) decided to annul the results of the first round of the presidential elections amid recently declassified reports suggesting Russian involvement aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process.

"Romania is a stable country, a safe country and a solid country. I say this for the economy, for investors, for the financial markets. I say this for the European Union. Romania is and remains a safe, solid, pro-European country. I say this for NATO. Romania remains a safe, solid ally. And I think it is very important for us all to know: Romania is not in difficulty," the president said.

Iohannis said he will remain in office until his successor is sworn in.

A new Government, to be validated by the newly-elected Parliament, is to decide the date of the presidential elections.

Romania was due to hold the second round of the presidential elections this Sunday, December 8 – a runoff between ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, the shock winner of the first round, and Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Save Romania Union (USR), who had gathered support from all the pro-EU political parties for the second round.

In a recap of the events that led to CCR’s decision today, the president pointed to several breaches to the electoral law, including “massive electoral promotion in the two days prior to the elections, which is prohibited” and a “very sophisticated campaign” for which no expenses were declared. “Moreover, we received information that this candidate's campaign was supported by a state whose interests are foreign from Romania’s,” Iohannis explained.

On December 4, the Presidential Administration declassified the reports provided by the intelligence services (SRI, SIE), the Foreign Ministry (MAE), and the special telecommunication services (STS) to the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT). CSAT had said that "cyber attacks aimed at influencing the fairness of the electoral process" took place and that a "candidate benefited from a massive exposure due to the preferential treatment that the TikTok platform granted him by not marking him as a political candidate."

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into how Georgescu's presidential campaign was financed, citing potential voter manipulation and money laundering violations.

CCR's decision to annul the results of the first round of the presidential elections came as voting for the second round had already started at polling stations in the diaspora. Some 53,000 people had already voted by the time the Central Electoral Bureau issued the decision to stop the process.

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(Photo: Presidency.ro)

simona@romania-insider.com