Romanian university to petition Constitutional Court to suspend second round of presidential elections
Remus Pricopie, the rector of public university SNSPA, stated that the institution is preparing a petition for Constitutional Court to suspend the second round of presidential elections, citing recently declassified documents showing Russian interference in the electoral process.
Voting in the second round of the presidential elections is set to begin outside Romania on Friday, December 6. In the country, Romanians will go to the polls on Sunday, December 8. However, Pricopie asserted that Romania is vulnerable, “facing a coup d’état that Russia has been preparing for a long time,” according to Edupedu.
On Wednesday, December 4, documents provided by Romanian intelligence services declassified by the Presidential Administration showed that state actors have tried to influence the Romanian elections. The US Department of State expressed concern following the report.
Moreover, Romania's Prosecutor General's Office initiated an investigation ex officio into the financing of independent candidate Călin Georgescu's presidential campaign, citing potential voter manipulation and money laundering violations.
A petition to redo the first round of voting has already been submitted by the publication Calea Europeană, given the conclusions regarding the distortion of Romania’s electoral process through a series of illegalities identified and publicly reported by CSAT.
Separately, Cristian Terheș, a conservative candidate in the first round, who received 1% of the votes, also declared that he has once again requested the Constitutional Court to annul the November 24 election. Compared to the petition submitted last week and rejected by judges on Monday, the new request is based on the documents declassified by the Presidential Administration.
However, the petitions are reportedly inadmissible, as the Constitutional Court has validated the results of the first round, won by Călin Georgescu with 23% of the votes, followed by Elena Lasconi with 19%. Furthermore, the submission deadline has been exceeded, according to Biziday.
In reply to concerns and petitions, Toni Grebla, head of the Romanian electoral authority AEP, said that there is no way to annul the results of the first round of the presidential elections after the Constitutional Court validated it.
Meanwhile, Romania’s pro-European parties, from the center-left to the center-right, have rallied behind reformist candidate Elena Lasconi against surprise independent candidate Calin Georgescu, seen as the beneficiary of the Russian interference.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Sabin Cirstoveanu)
