Romania’s Constitutional Court issues unprecedented ruling to recount all votes cast in first round of the presidential elections
The Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) decided on Thursday, November 28, to request the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) to recount all valid and nullified ballots from the first round of the presidential elections.
The decision was made unanimously following a two-hour session, in response to a complaint filed by Cristian Terheș, who alleged fraud regarding votes for Elena Lasconi. A new session of the Court will take place on Friday, November 29, at 2:00 PM, to make a decision regarding the request to annul the first round of the presidential elections.
Additionally, the CCR stated that it unanimously rejected, as untimely, the request to annul the presidential elections submitted by Sebastian-Constantin Popescu, another candidate in the presidential elections.
All decisions of the Constitutional Court are final.
In response, the President of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă, told Digi24 that a vote recount can be carried out if there is solid evidence justifying this decision. He emphasized that over 9 million ballots currently stored in county tribunal archives would need to be recounted, a lengthy process.
A recount may reverse the order of the second and third-placed candidates, namely reformist opposition candidate Elena Lasconi (USR) and Social Democratic prime minister Marcel Ciolacu (PSD). The two were separated by about 2,750 votes. Placing third, Ciolacu was left out of the second round of the presidential elections, a major blow to the party that has largely dominated post-communist Romania.
Asked to weigh in, Marcel Ciolacu stated that he has never commented on the decision of any judge or of the Constitutional Court. Instead, he recalled that he congratulated the two candidates who advanced to the second round.
In turn representatives of Union Save Romania (USR), the center-right opposition party, said that the Court's ruling impacts democracy.
"At this moment, it seems that some people want to cling to power at any cost, even at the cost of democracy. [...] Sunday was a day of voting—perhaps not flawless, but the cleanest in recent years. There were no incidents, and the election results reflected the will of the Romanian people," said Ionuț Moșteanu, leader of the USR deputies.
Independent presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, who finished first in the initial voting round, declined to comment on the Constitutional Court's request to recount votes.
It is worthy to note that 6 of the 9 judges of the Constitutional Court are named by the Parliament, and 3 by the president. The current majority within the Court, including president Marian Enache, were proposed by the Social Democratic Party. Moreover, Cristian Terhes was initially elected to the European Parliament in 2020 on PSD lists, while Toni Greblă was a PSD senator and was backed by the same party to head the Electoral Authority.
In October of this year, CCR - with the votes of the PSD-appointed judges - invalidated the presidential candidacy of far-right, populist politician Diana Sosoaca (SOS). At that time, critics said that the principal beneficiary of the move was the PSD prime minister, as it shored up the votes of a single far-right candidate against whom Marcel Ciolacu, as a moderate candidate, could amass a large coalition the second round of voting.
The theory, however, did not hold, and the surprise appearance of Georgescu in first place pushed Marcel Ciolacu in second, while diaspora votes pushed him further into third, leaving him behind Elena Lasconi and out of the runoff.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)
